The Motorists Association of Kenya (MAK) has questioned how the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) regulates the matatu sector despite admitting that it does not have clear information on vehicle ownership and investors.
MAK said the regulator’s explanation raises questions about how it has been licensing, inspecting and taking action against public service vehicles over the years.
In a statement issued on Monday, September 28, the motorists’ lobby challenged NTSA to explain how it holds matatu operators accountable if it does not know who owns or controls some of the vehicles.
“If the regulator admits it does not know who owns the vehicles it regulates, who controls them or who should be held accountable, then the obvious question is: what exactly has NTSA been regulating all these years?” MAK said.
The association was responding to remarks made by NTSA Director General George Njao in June about the challenges facing regulation of the matatu industry.
Njao said the sector was difficult to regulate because the ownership and financial structures of the industry were not clear to the authority.
“There is no industry where the regulator does not know the investors in the sector. In the matatu industry, I don’t know. That is the first problem,” he said during an interview with Citizen TV.
He added that the authority did not know who the investors were, where the money came from or whose interests some operators were serving.
MAK, however, questioned the explanation, pointing to what it described as inconsistencies in how NTSA enforces traffic and safety regulations.
The association said the authority is able to identify drivers and vehicle ownership details when taking action against some operators, yet similar action is not always taken against other matatu operators accused of breaking safety rules.
“But when other operators repeatedly violate safety rules, we are told the problem is that the Authority lacks clear data on ownership and accountability,” MAK said.
The motorists’ lobby also raised concerns over what it termed selective enforcement, saying dangerous driving practices involving some matatus continue to be witnessed on Kenyan roads.
It specifically pointed to reckless manoeuvres, which it said have contributed to serious crashes and loss of lives.
MAK called on NTSA to strengthen its oversight of the matatu sector and address what it described as gaps in enforcement and accountability.
“NTSA must not be allowed to explain away its failure to regulate the industry with all the huge taxpayer funding at its disposal,” the association said.
The concerns come as NTSA is also set to take on an expanded role in the inspection of matatus if proposed changes to the law are approved.
The National Transport and Safety Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2026, seeks to establish a framework for regulating public service vehicle conformity assessors.
Under the proposed law, NTSA would have powers to register and license inspectors responsible for checking whether public service vehicle bodies meet the required technical standards.