Popular matatu Sacco Super Metro is still in soup. On Tuesday, the Sacco was ordered to fire 269 of its drivers and re-test 42 others. This order was made by the Transport and Licensing appeals board.
This is the latest in a string of operational troubles that have dogged the Sacco over the recent few weeks. In addition to these orders, the matatu Sacco has also been instructed to present eight vehicles for retesting at the Likoni motor vehicle inspection centre.
The eight vehicles have been cited for various offences including speed limit violations. In the same vein, the 42 drivers who have been ordered to be re-tested have been cited for traffic offences that include violation of speed limits. These drivers shall be re-tested at the Likoni diver test centre.
“That in the interim, pending compliance of orders 1 to 5, the respondent’s [NTSA] directive namely NTSA/C/RT/010/2VOL(1) dated 18th March 2025, suspending the operations of the appellant shall forthwith cease operations pending further orders upon confirmation of compliance with the terms of the orders herein,” the tribunal declared in the order that was issued by Dr. Adrian Kamotho.
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At the same time, the tribunal ruled that Super Metro must produce minutes and the attendance list of a road safety sensitization exercise for all its drivers.
“The appellant [Super Metro] shall immediately furnish the minutes and the attendance of Road Safety Sensitization of all its drivers to the Director of Road Safety,” the order further declared.
The Sacco was first suspended from operations by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) on March 20, 2025 over what the NTSA termed as noncompliance with public service vehicles regulations and other set conditions.
The NTSA stated that out of a fleet of 523 vehicles operating under the Sacco, 15 had expired inspection certificates while 8 others had expired road service licenses. At the same time, 5 vehicles had expired speed limiter certificates, 88 were not transmitting speed data, 171 had no speed limiter records, while 7 others had no speed limiter vendor details.
A total of 109 vehicles were also found to be operating beyond the stipulated speed limit of 80 kilometres per hour. In that suspension, the NTSA had ordered the Sacco to present 42 drivers out of the 109 with speed violations for a retest at the Likoni Driver Test Centre.
The NTSA had stated that 64 drivers working for the Sacco had failed a retest on March 10, 2025.
