The Super Metro Sacco has found itself in soup with questions over the qualifications of its drivers. The National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) says that in a retest for Super Metro matatu drivers, 64 of the drivers failed their driving test. This retest was undertaken at the NTSA’s Likoni Driver Test Centre.
The retest came amidst incidents of accidents and traffic violations involving the Sacco, including an incident in which a driver and his conductor were accused of throwing a passenger to his death over a fare dispute.
According to the NTSA, it is the failure by the Super Metro drivers to pass their driving retest that led to the suspension of the company’s operations in the Nairobi metropolitan area.
The competence of the drivers was further called into question on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 when the Transport and Licensing appeals board ordered that the matatu Sacco dismisses 269 of its drivers and re-test 42 others. It now remains to be seen how many of these drivers will pass their retest. These drivers have been cited for traffic offences that include violation of speed limits.
Sack 269 drivers and re-test 42 others – Super Metro ordered
The NTSA has since gone on to list a series of other violations that the Sacco’s vehicles have been found with.
The NTSA says 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.
