Nairobi County Governor Mike Sonko has vowed to take action against City Hall officials who collude with Public Service Vehicle (PSV) operators to create illegal bus stops.
Governor Sonko said that senior officers from the inspectorate and parking departments have been implicated in the racket that has made the county lose revenue.
He said that these officers’ actions go against national and county governments’ efforts to decongest Nairobi’s Central Business District.
“We are working hard with the national government to decongest the city centre but (some) people within my administration are selling stages to new PSV operators. This is wrong,” said Mr Sonko told Nationon Thursday.
He said that he had received intelligence reports that the officers were creating illegal stages on a daily basis for kickbacks.
ILLEGAL STAGES
The governor vowed to take action against the implicated officers upon his return from Mombasa where he had gone to bury his grandmother.
“Some officers in the parking and inspectorate departments are dishing out stages for money,” he said.
The county chief said that shop owners and traders have been complaining that illegal stages block their premises.
City Hall Parking Services Director Tom Tinega admitted that some parking officers create illegal matatu stages in the CBD.
ENCROACHMENT
He said that the affected areas include Tom Mboya Avenue, Accra Road, lanes along Haile Selassie and Moi Avenues, Latema Road, and Taveta lane.
Mr Tinega said that the department will set up a team to deal with the menace.
“We will hold the new team into account for not addressing the encroachment. We want to make sure that Nairobi has order where matatus do not just operate anywhere,” he said.
Last month, City Hall warned matatus against picking up and dropping off passengers at non-gazetted locations.