Nairobi — Matatu Owners Association (MoA) has agreed on a partnership with the government to set up a training institution dedicated exclusively for drivers and conductors in the public transport sector.

Official Government statistics show that at least 4,690 people lost their lives in road accidents in 2022.

MoA Chairman Albert Karakacha said that setting up a training school with a specific curriculum will ensure that drivers and conductors are taken through proper training that will in turn improve road safety in the country.

"We know very well that the accidents on our roads are because we do not have a training school where we train our drivers. We are working with the government to see how we are going to develop a training school for our drivers so that we can change the image of the matatus," he said.

Karakacha added; " We have seen when foreigners come here to invest in public transport, they are turned away and that is a problem because the matatu industry creates about 730,000 employment opportunities annually."

He said that the public transport sector has been neglected for a long time, although it is an important sector that facilitates movement in the country and is a key cog in the economic wheel of the country.

Karakacha spoke after MoA's National Governing Council held a meeting with Deputy Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja to address issues affecting public transport operators in the country.

"We are going to have meetings every month, with stakeholders we will include Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the National Police Service, the National Transport and Safety Authority, and the Nairobi County, to see how we can bring everybody together so that we can try to tame corruption in our industry. We know Nairobi controls almost 70 percent of the matatus countrywide and we know if we can contain it in Nairobi, we help the whole country,"