Tuesday, July 22, 2025 - President William Ruto’s Senior Advisor on Constitutional Affairs, Professor Makau Mutua, has sparked national debate with his fresh proposal to overhaul Kenya’s matatu industry, just days after the President’s son, George Ruto, unveiled a highly customized matatu dubbed Mood.
Taking to his X account, Mutua proposed the reintroduction
of reliable, clean, and punctual public buses, similar to the now-defunct Kenya
Bus Service (KBS), as a solution to restore sanity on city roads.
“Let’s return road sanity to Kenya’s major cities and towns
by introducing reliable, clean, and timely buses (aka KBS),” he posted.
Mutua further recommended that the Government licenses only
a limited number of matatus - all of the same model and colour.
He also doubled down on his earlier call to ban boda
bodas from urban areas.
“License LIMITED number of matatus… same model, same colour
(no strange camouflage or weird lights), and ban boda boda. No pain, no gain,”
he wrote.
His proposals have been met with mixed reactions online.
While some Kenyans support the push for order and safety,
others view the suggestions as extreme - especially given the popularity of the
flashy, graffiti-covered matatus among the youth.
The legal scholar’s timing has raised eyebrows, coming less
than a week after George Ruto launched Mood, a pimped-out matatu showcasing
everything Mutua seems to oppose in the sector.
1 Comments
For this one I concur with Mutua. Lets have order by having reliable transport in towns Kenya bus style. As boda boda, let us have them but be regulated and the operators trained and licensed on road discipline. These bodas guys at present operate like a criminal gang with no rules.
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