Michuki Rules Re-run: Dozens Of Matatu Crews Arrested On Second Day

Dozens of traffic offenders arrested with various offences following re-introduction of the so called Michuki rules were arraigned in court on Tuesday.

 

Majority of them were driver and touts and were produced at the Milimani Law Courts.

Michuki rules were reintroduced on Monday with a countrywide crackdown by police for noncompliance.

The move led a crisis in public transport as many matatu owners withdrew their vehicles either in protest, to comply or out of fear.

More than 2,000 offenders were arrested nationwide on Monday.

Fourteen years after the success of the famous ‘Michuki Rules’ in 2004, implementation has become so lax and accidents so rampant that the country is hitting the reset button.

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The laws were introduced by the Transport minister John Michuki, hence the moniker ‘Michuki Rules’. Enforcement was both brutal and reprieving, bringing order to the public transport sector for the first time in Kenya’s history.

The radical regulations drastically reduced road accidents by 74 per cent nationally. Fatal road crashes involving urban public service vehicles fell by a whopping 94 per cent in just three months.

But things fell apart after Michuki left the Transport ministry. The wake-up call after a series of accidents was the Fort Ternan bus crash on October 10, which killed 52 on the Kisumu–Muhoroni Highway.

“We are good at drafting good policies and laws, but all of them are turned into cash cows,” says Simon Kimutai, chairman of the Matatu Owners Association.

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“That is why Michuki laws have failed. We will have a crackdown today, then after a few days, we will go back to zero because of corruption.”

Before the Michuki Rules came into being, the public transport sector was largely controlled by criminal gangs and run like a jungle scheme.

When the government moved to assert its authority, the cartels used organised criminal gangs to fight back, prompting the government to form special police lock-up teams to eliminate the gangs. Many members of the gangs were killed.

Traffic police had teamed up with Transport ministry officials in implementing the laws. PSV owners and operators, as well as passengers, had to comply with a raft of requirements to be on road, which reduced accidents and enhanced safety and comfort on roads.

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