Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia has put boda boda operators on notice, indicating that the crackdown on PSVs and the implementation of Michuki rules is just the beginning of a long process to change the culture on the roads and the traffic sector as a whole. The matatu crackdown which started on Monday has led to many arrests as police enforce the traffic rules which have been neglected for many years by many PSV operators, rivers, conductors and commuters. The government has set its sights on streamlining the boda boda sector, and a task force has been put in place to offer possible solutions to taming the sector’s indiscipline and flouting of traffic rules.
Speaking on Friday, Transport CS Macharia said order can be restored in the matatu industry but the burden still lies in the boda boda sector, “You can have order with the matatus or the PSVs, but we have 700,000 boda boda operators in our country, that number will be 1,000,000 very shortly,” he said. He said they have continued to break traffic laws, “In the city of Nairobi, they’ll clearly see the traffic light is red and they assume it’s only meant for the vehicles,” said CS Macharia.
Speaking on the PSVs crackdown, the Transport CS said the operation won’t slow down or be averted, and that they are focusing on the long-term benefit, “Eventually it will transform itself to a culture on the roads,” he said.