Tuk-tuk operators in Mombasa County have issued a seven-day ultimatum to the county government, demanding the immediate scrapping of the National Transport and Safety Authority’s (NTSA) Instant Fines Management System.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

The operators, led by the Boda Boda and Tuk Tuk Transport Cooperative Union of Kenya (BOTUK), on July 6, want the county to halt new registration requirements they say are pushing many owners out of business.

Their grievance centers on a Ksh5,000 penalty attached to each violation flagged by the Instant Fines Management System, a tool NTSA rolled out to enforce road safety compliance.

The union secretary Morara Omanga says the fines become unbearable for owners managing multiple vehicles, since each unit risks a separate Ksh5,000 charge.

📌 What You Need to Know

“We will put transport activities in this county to a standstill, and bring all our tuktuks to the county government offices so that you see how serious we are,” stated Omanga.

He argues an owner with five tuk-tuks could easily rack up Ksh25,000 in penalties, a cost he says makes daily operations financially unsustainable.

“If a Tuktuk Owner has 5 cars, and each has been stricken with a Ksh5,000 fine, that will be too expensive for the car owner and will eventually make the operating cost really expensive.”

Beyond the fines, operators are also frustrated by constant surveillance from speed cameras, which they claim capture excessive photos of their vehicles throughout the day, they fear their data could be put to bad use by the transport authority and the county at large.

They further cite steep parking fees of Ksh5,000 per vehicle as another financial strain piling onto an already difficult operating environment for small-scale transport businesses.

With this in mind, the transport operators claim the county government sidelined them entirely during key decision-making, despite policies that directly affect their livelihoods and daily earnings.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke