Peter Ng'etich And Bernard Namunane
17 August 2005
Nairobi — The Government and matatu operators were yesterday at war over increased fares as high fuel prices continued to hit public travel.
TLB chairman Hassan ole Kamwaro said the Government is likely to step in and regulate fares.
Mr Kamwaro said TLB has powers to regulate fares and warned matatu operators not to exploit Kenyans and gave yesterday the last day for them to reduce fares or face Government regulation.
And should the Government intervene, he warned, the resultant fares would be lower than the rates charged by providers of public transport.
It was unfair, he said, for matatu owners to hike the charges by between 50 and 100 per cent when fuel prices had only gone up by a marginal 0.8 per cent.
He warned: "The prices of fuel have gone up by a non-considerable fraction and matatu owners have to reduce the prices by today or we will come in."
But Matatu Owners Association, Simeon Kimutai accused the TLB boss of seeking to return the industry to the older days of Government regulation.
The Government, said Mr Kimutai, should understand that public transport has been liberalised and they will not be cowed."He should be told to follow the law. This is a liberalised economy and TLB has no powers to control fares. Let him try to reduce fares and we will make our own moves," he told the Nation on phone.
Although he said they will not be gullible, commuters have to pay for the increase in fuel prices, however minimal they are.
"We don't want to be animals. We will only increase fairs to meet the cost of operation may by five shillings. For any person to enjoy our services, they will have to pay for it," he said.
About the almost 100 per cent increment, Mr Kimuati said it was a result of fuel shortages in certain parts of the country and it will come to an end. The industry's policy, he said, was that fares will be dictated by the cost of providing the services. "Fares went up by a big margin becuase there was no fuel in most parts of the country," he said.
Mr Kamwaro gave the warning in Eldoret as he issued TLB licences to public service vehicle operators. His threat follows a similar warning by Energy minister Simeoin Nyachae to oil companies to reduce the prices of fuel or have there licences revoked.
Although the prices of crude oil had gone up, he said the shilling had held strong against the dollar."This increase has been made by multinationals who want to exploit the public simply because they think Kenyans are ignorant. Quite frankly, this exploitation must come to an end," said the minister.
"As the minister in charge of licensing these companies, [I say] they must stop such exploitation otherwise I will cancel their operating licences. The sooner they realise Kenyans are not so ignorant the better."
Yesterday Mr Kamwaro said if the board comes in, fares might be lower than what passengers are being charged and the industry should bring sanity before they step in on behalf of Kenyans.
"As a board we have powers to regulate fares and matatus should restore sanity before we come in," Mr Kamwaro said.
In the last one week, passenger service vehicles have increased fares arguing that fuel had been increased by about Sh3. The price increase was occasioned by a disruption in distribution system as a result of new tax rules that require oil importers to pay duty upfront. The hitch resulted in some matatu owners doubling fares from Nairobi and other upcountry towns. They charged Sh800 up from Sh500 from Nairobi to Eldoret on Sunday but were later reduced to Sh600 in the evening.
Mr Kamwaro said more people are wiling to join the matatu industry and vehicles which will be found to have charged passenger exorbitant prices will be stopped from operating.
"We are committed of revoking licences of up 90 per cent of matatus on roads as there are more people wiling to join the industry which we have restored order," he said.
He said passengers will be required to report to them matatus which will have increased fares unfairly so that they can suspend the vehicles from operating.
"We shall start by suspending them and we might be forced to revoke their licences if they continue with the vice," he said.
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