Matatu Owners Association (MOA) chairman Simon Kimutai has said Matatus across the country will provide free services for the elderly and disabled a day before and during the August 8 elections.
Accordign to Kimutai, people aged above 75 and the physically challenged would be eligible for free service during the elections, and will be picked from their homes to the polling stations and back.
“As part of ensuring that everyone exercises their right to vote, we will be transporting the aged and physically disabled at no cost on election day,” said Kimutai.
This latest campaign follows other campaigns that the transport sector is involved in, which are aimed at promoting peace before and after the elections.
Last week, Matatu Welfare Association chairman Dickson Mbugua launched a countrywide campaign to preach peace, while on Wednesday; MOA went around the country posting stickers on public service vehicles urging people to maintain peace during the elections.
“We don’t want a repeat of the 2007-2008 post-election violence because we made heavy losses,” said Mbugua.
However, the service will not be offered in violence prone areas, as a way of preventing chao, in case they erupt, from spreading.
“We will withdraw our services from any areas where violence erupts to avoid transporting those responsible for it to other areas,” he said.
“Uncertainty will mean loss of business because people will remain indoors, and that is why we are preaching peace.”
Kimutai further urged locals not to move out of urban centres for fear of chaos during the election period, after it emerged that people were slowly leaving Nairobi as the election date nears.