CS Murkomen halts re-testing of PSV drivers till September
Mr Abdulkadir Adan, driver examination officer at the National Transport and Safety Authority, retests public service vehicle drivers at the NTSA vehicle inspection centre in Industrial Area, Nairobi, on June 19 ,2023.
The government has put a halt on the retesting of drivers of commercial and public service vehicles (PSV) in the country until September 1.
This comes days after the entire long-distance transport sector, under the umbrella of their associations, including the Long-Distance Drivers and Conductors Association (Lodca), the Kenya Long Distance Truck Drivers and Allied Workers Union (Kldawu) issued their strike notices stating they would down their tools beginning today (July 12).
Lodca had listed three issues as the basis for their strike notice. They included the introduction of the re-testing and fees by the government through NTSA, violation of labour laws by transporters on employment of foreigners and minimum wage implementation as well as the non-inclusion of drivers in various critical decision-making organs and forums.
On its part, Kldawu said they would strike since they had gotten no response from the Ministry of Transport and National Transport and Safety Authority on their concerns raised on the directive issued by NTSA on re-testing of drivers and the fees involved.
The threats to go on strike seem to have achieved the intended purpose for the Unions as they were given audience by the Ministry of Transport to iron out their issues.
“The Ministry and the stakeholders have agreed on the formation of a multiagency committee that will among others, review the grievances raised by the drivers and conductors, a copy of which has been submitted to my office today, July 11 at 3pm,” CS Murkomen said.
Following the talks, it was agreed that the stakeholders shall submit the names of the officials representing all the industry players by August 1. The exercise will take 14 days and the report with recommendations submitted for further decision-making; the Transport CS revealed.
“Taking note of the above(developments), I hereby halt the retesting of drivers until September 1, 2023 to give the multi-agency committee time to address the rising concerns,” the CS said.
However, results from the ongoing re-testing of drivers of commercial and public service vehicles (PSV) show that less than a third of drivers ferrying passengers and goods are fit to ply their trade as transporters in the country.
CS Murkomen revealed that a total of 1,847 PSV drivers have completed the process and only a paltry 31 percent, representing 576 drivers, passed the re-testing. This mainly involved the re-testing of PSV drivers, including drivers of school transportation.
The station centres are currently based in Nairobi, Nyeri, Kisumu, Kisii,Mombasa, Embu,Nakuru, Thika, Eldoret,Meru, Kericho and Garissa.
The government’s decision to suspend the re-testing is happening less than three weeks after a planned matatu strike that would have affected the Central region was called off after the Mt Kenya Matatu Owners Association and he NTSA held talks that effectively ended the strike that was to happen late last month.
