Owner of city Matatu torched during anti-government protests speaks

Francis Ogato Nyakundi, the driver of the torched matatu addresses the media at the Matatu Owners Association offices in Nairobi. [Denis Kibuchi, Standard] Tuesday, May 2, 2023, was a normal day for Henry Muigai Muiruri, a matatu investor in Nairobi. But it is also the day Azimio leaders led by Raila Odinga staged protests in the city. Around 10 am, Muigai received a distress call from his driver alerting him that he was in trouble. That he had been attacked by suspected goons and the vehicle torched along Ngong road. Muigai says he is the owner of a matatu that was torched along Ngong road in Nairobi on Tuesday, on the first day of anti-government protests that had taken a break for about a month. "Infact, I was out of the city to attend a burial when I received the call, he was unsteady, and managed to calm him down before he shared what had transpired," he narrated. "Later on I was called by DCI and I handed over the logbook for further investigations, for now, I have been robbed of my only source of income. I hope the culprits will be apprehended," Muigai said. The matatu driver, Francis Nyakundi, says he was heading to the city from Ngong and had not been informed about the situation on the road. Nyakundi claims that around Posta stage, he noticed some people inching closer to the road before blocking it completely and started stoning the vehicle. "Since I had already approached where they (suspected goons) had blocked, I tried to reverse so that I could turn back but the engine failed," Nyakundi explained. "At that time, the goons were robbing passengers from the windows after breaking the windscreen, I managed to escape and was rescued by security guards around. I watched in pain as the vehicle was going up in flames before calling my boss," he added. Nyakundi says if the officers who were not far from the scene had acted on time, maybe the vehicle would have been salvaged. "Some police officers were around but they were not swift enough as the goons fled after robbing us and burning the vehicle," the driver added. Matatu Owners Association (MOA) has now called on their members in Nairobi to remain calm and continue ferrying passengers. MOA has also denied reports by some politicians that the incident was sponsored to pass a political message. "Our only role is to provide public transport services and I am sure that we are being targeted because we will make people to town and if we are not there many people will not come and it will appear that they have boycotted their activities," the Association chairperson Kimutai said. Kimutai said the bus that was torched is under Compliant Sacco which is associated with the Matatu Owners office. "it is very unfortunate that a family has been robbed of their source of income. It is very wrong to target the businesses of the downtrodden people," the chairman noted. He added: "It is more worrying when politicians claim that the incident was stage-managed and start blame games. It's good that someone captured it and we can analyze and make observations on what happened." Even so, Kimutai has asked the government to provide enough security whenever there are protests, to ensure peace for all.

Owner of city Matatu torched during anti-government protests speaks

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