MATATUS
FEBRUARY 16, 2010
By EUGENE OMILO
Fresh wrangles have emerged between hawkers and matatu owners in
Mombasa after the later accused the former of invading a major bus
terminus in Likoni and Buxton.
While the matatu owners complain that the hawkers are now becoming a
major hindrance to their operations, the hawkers have on their part
accused the matatu owners of poking their fingers in their affairs
instead of sending their worries to the appropriate people.
During a stakeholders’ meeting in Mombasa yesterday, matatu owners
association chairman Ali Bathez appealed to the Municipal council to
remove the hawkers from the main terminus in Likoni as they are a
hindrance to smooth operations of their business.
“We cannot continue to compete for space with the hawkers, what we
should be focusing on right now is how we will get new terminuses for
our matatus so that we decongest the CBD,” said Bathez.
He complained that the hawkers have encroached to the pavements and
one way roads making it hard for pedestrians and motorists to use the
roads yet unlike the hawkers, matatus pay for parking in the terminus.
But the hawkers’ chairman Hussein Sheikh denied claims that the
hawkers have taken over the terminuses as the Council had assigned
them to operate in Buxton while they await a permanent solution to
where they will be allocated to operate from.
“Our brothers from the matatu industry are not being fair to our
people, they are so bitter when they see us earn our daily bread as if
they would be happier if we were all beggars in the streets,” said
sheikh.
Sheikh said Bathez’s claims are farfetched as the problem in
terminuses is not caused by hawkers but touts who are also known to
extort money from the matatus.
Town clerk Tubman Otieno said there has been a lot of congestion in
the CBD with the number of matatus and tuktuks having risen to 2,800
and 800 respectively.
He said the Council is in consultations with private developers and
government organizations to acquire land in three different areas
within the CBD for the construction of new bus terminuses.
“We will build three terminuses, one in the North of the town, another
in the South and one in the East,” said Tubman.
The council announced the increase of revenue collected from matatus
from an average of Sh 2.5 million to Sh 4.5 million since the
inception of the Rapid Response initiative three months ago.
ENDS…
FEBRUARY 16, 2010
By EUGENE OMILO
Fresh wrangles have emerged between hawkers and matatu owners in
Mombasa after the later accused the former of invading a major bus
terminus in Likoni and Buxton.
While the matatu owners complain that the hawkers are now becoming a
major hindrance to their operations, the hawkers have on their part
accused the matatu owners of poking their fingers in their affairs
instead of sending their worries to the appropriate people.
During a stakeholders’ meeting in Mombasa yesterday, matatu owners
association chairman Ali Bathez appealed to the Municipal council to
remove the hawkers from the main terminus in Likoni as they are a
hindrance to smooth operations of their business.
“We cannot continue to compete for space with the hawkers, what we
should be focusing on right now is how we will get new terminuses for
our matatus so that we decongest the CBD,” said Bathez.
He complained that the hawkers have encroached to the pavements and
one way roads making it hard for pedestrians and motorists to use the
roads yet unlike the hawkers, matatus pay for parking in the terminus.
But the hawkers’ chairman Hussein Sheikh denied claims that the
hawkers have taken over the terminuses as the Council had assigned
them to operate in Buxton while they await a permanent solution to
where they will be allocated to operate from.
“Our brothers from the matatu industry are not being fair to our
people, they are so bitter when they see us earn our daily bread as if
they would be happier if we were all beggars in the streets,” said
sheikh.
Sheikh said Bathez’s claims are farfetched as the problem in
terminuses is not caused by hawkers but touts who are also known to
extort money from the matatus.
Town clerk Tubman Otieno said there has been a lot of congestion in
the CBD with the number of matatus and tuktuks having risen to 2,800
and 800 respectively.
He said the Council is in consultations with private developers and
government organizations to acquire land in three different areas
within the CBD for the construction of new bus terminuses.
“We will build three terminuses, one in the North of the town, another
in the South and one in the East,” said Tubman.
The council announced the increase of revenue collected from matatus
from an average of Sh 2.5 million to Sh 4.5 million since the
inception of the Rapid Response initiative three months ago.
ENDS…
No comments:
Post a Comment