Ruto summons transport leaders over Matatu strike
Ruto has moved to avert a possible transport crisis next week after inviting transport sector stakeholders for urgent talks in Mombasa.
President William Ruto has moved to avert a possible transport crisis next week after inviting transport sector stakeholders for urgent talks in Mombasa.
Reports indicate the president summoned stakeholders on the evening of Thursday, May 21, hours after jetting back into the country after official state visits in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
The planned discussions are expected to bring together key stakeholders, including chairpersons of matatu Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisations (Saccos).
Stakeholders had been issued a formal invitation on Wednesday evening from the President’s office, and are expected to attend the engagement with a set of demands.
While particulars of the talks remain scanty, discussions are expected to largely revolve around transport industry players’ potential industrial action in the next few days.
A day earlier, matatu stakeholders temporarily suspended a nationwide strike in what was a welcome breakthrough, albeit only for a week.
The suspension followed a high-level engagement between government officials and the public transport leaders on Tuesday, which came a day after a sensational fallout where transport stakeholder representative Kennedy Kaunda sensationally contradicted Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi’s remarks that the two parties had found a middle ground.
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While the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) has since revised maximum retail diesel prices downwards by Ksh10.06 per litre to Ksh 232.86 per litre, transport stakeholders maintain that this is not enough to mitigate the transport sector.
Transport bosses want the government to trim diesel prices by Ksh46, something which the government maintains is impractical.
The country, meanwhile, has been waiting for a direct response on the current conundrum from President William Ruto, who has yet to publicly comment on the crisis.
Details of the resolution from the ongoing talks between the president and stakeholders are yet to be made public.
As it stands, however, transport stakeholders maintain that their strike is only on hold to give negotiations another chance.
According to their statement on Tuesday, should the two parties fail to reach a resolution, industrial action will effectively resume from Monday.
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