Owners of Nganya’s in the city got temporary relief after high court judge ordered NTSA to release all impounded Matatus and also return all registration number belonging to them pending hearing of case filed challenging the ban.
Justice Bahati Mwamuye has ordered NTSA to return their number plates and also release impounded Matatus.
“Pending interparties hearing and determination of the application a conservatory order be and is hereby issued directing NTSA to return to the Matatus all registration number plates belonging to the Nganya’s and also release all motor vehicles impounded by then which belong to the Matatus unless the sane are otherwise lawfully held pursuant to a court order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction,” reads the order.
Through lawyer Danstan Omari, the owners of Nganya’s have challenged the ban by NTSA arguing that it’s illegal.
Omari says the petitionets are Matatu Owners and Operators, plying the routes of Embakasi, Kiambu Road, Ongata-Rongai, and often times Thika Road, all the way to Juja, who are counting excessive loses as a result of their stalled Matatus, the source of their livelihood.
The owners claim that from the January 21 2025, they have been subjected to excessive, inordinate, unwarranted, and unjustified crack-downs resulting in
frantic National Transport and Safety Authority searches, which end up in the apprehension of the Matatus they operate.
“As a result of the ambush crack-downs, the Petitioners have resorted to letting their vehicles gather dust in their backyards as opposed them wearing out
in police station backyards as a result of the punitive and discriminative inspection measures they are subjected to, which find err in even the newest of such vehicles,” reads court papers.
It is further argued that frantic measures by the Petitioners to fundraise and bail out their vehicles have always fallen on deaf ears of the authorities, despite the vehicles having operated on the same roads for ages, conveniently unnoticed during such previous crack-downs.
The case will be mentioned on February 25
