Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has seemingly made a U-turn on his directive to remove matatus from the city's Central Business District (CBD), shelving the plan-for now.
Sakaja, who had pledged in his gubernatorial manifesto to decongest the city by relocating matatus from its core, now appears to be retreating from that commitment. "I would like to clarify that there are no plans, first and foremost, to decongest the city using that approach (removing matatus from the CBD).
The county government's, and the governor's, dream and vision is not to remove any matatus from the CBD," stated Machel Waikenda, Chief Mobility Officer in the Nairobi County Government.
The decision to put the plan on hold comes amid uproar from both matatu operators and commuters over the challenges posed by Sakaja's campaign pledge to ease congestion in the city.
