Thiong'o: We are not political, our strike is honestly for the business, we demand Sh.196

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]Theongo who's a chairperson um for travelers, one of the biggest mat circles in Nairobi. Uh Bulongo, good morning Karibu. We were with you here in studio yesterday and uh we were hoping for some solution by the end of the day.

[00:00:14]What is your reaction to what happened in that meeting that you attended J?

[00:00:17]>> Good morning. Uh yesterday we had a long discussion with minister for finance bonabi and minister for energy chill and minister for transport for transport and opio for energy and you have a long discussion from 5 to 9 900 p.m. whereby we uh they agreed to reduce the fuel price by 10 diesel and of course uh increase the crossing with 50 because of theration issues. Uh but uh finally have not get to in agreement because we have proposed uh they should reduce with 46 shillings which they they increase uh on 14th. We offer them solution where how is doable and we call upon them to call upon the parliament so that they may align with the rules and they just told us that I have also consulted with the president that's the minimum maximum that can offer to us and unfortunately we feel that we cannot be able to accommodate that or maybe our customer cannot be able to to burden our computer with that because they not have ability to pay. So the most of the pertinent issue that raised there it was very unfortunate that our strike was associated with politics minister for the CS for the security said that uh it's a tribal tribal strike and we stated categorically and of course they apologized to us instead of minister of the security because they stated that the the strike is for for the for the for the gma community or it's a political. So we just wanted to say that we are not politicals. Our strike is honestly for the business. We want to drive economy. We are the main casualties in this strike. And we have a good it can be able to reduce the standard because we understand that Ethiopia is a radical country and it's managing to reduce its fo by 149 shillings and we not demanding that 149.

[00:02:30]We are demanding 14 186 and show a good will for the government because this not longunning uh situation that we are in that the fight will last forever. We just proposed to the government that uh they should uh allow uh to reduce some taxation because in F we have 10 taxations which they agree on that uh we can be able to have a a parliament to sit down and maybe to reduce some of them like five and left with five and when the time comes that uh the f will reduce because we anticipate that in the near future the f reduce they will be able to cover that gap by not reducing too much so that we just wanted to be sustain our business that you have. Yes.

[00:03:17]>> Um you say you you there are some proposals uh that you gave uh to the meeting yesterday and which exactly were these proposals um which are linked to the kind of taxation that is currently in place because you say that the president was consulted and it would appear they not willing to take that proposal. Which particular proposal was this?

[00:03:39]>> Okay, our proposal. Okay. It was not that very technical because you are not technical people because if you go to that kind of technical they'll be able to to to to to misguide us or maybe they'll be able to to convince us because they are more technical than us.

[00:03:54]What we offer that we understand that there's 10 taxation in the fo industry and MP for Kharo have already stated that the f in Kenya can be able to come up from 240 to 180. We never requested for 180 that the Duro was stating about.

[00:04:11]We never requested for the 142 149 for the Ethiopia. We requested for 196 only. So it is doable if the government have a good wish because they stated that they need to align with the regal issue. We have seen the president calling for the h the recess or special sitting for the for the MP. If the MP can sit down they can be able to address that issue and they agreed to that it is doable it is manageable but their cry was that the government gap they don't have somewhere else to cover that government gap whereby you offer solution by stating that in the near future when they fail might be maybe expected to be sold like maybe 140 shillings they can as well set it at 170 so that they can be able to address that uh this scenario because the business is not doable you cannot shift that increment to a passenger they don't have a financial ability to pay. So we are calling upon them to use all their means to use the direction that they want to take real direction to make sure that this crisis is end. We are ready to go back to the business because you are the main casualty and you are suffering a lot.

[00:05:21]>> Is there any anticipated meeting today uh towards addressing the same?

[00:05:24]>> Uh okay they stated that they might call us today if not today tomorrow they have we shall have a meeting together to discuss the way forward. I think today they'll have a meeting with the president maybe through Zuma as the vice deputy president and of course the kubal what we requested to them they refuse uh they desist from the intimidation and we let them understand that this industry belong to the to the strong people let them ask the people who have been working for the transport industry we are the strongest people so let them desist from hsuring us intimidation we are in the business and we working toward the growth of industry toward and until that happens the strike is still on.

[00:06:11]>> Yes, the tax is still on. We are ready to strike until the solution is offered.

[00:06:16]>> All right. Thank you so much Paul. Paul is a chairperson um forward travelers one of the biggest mat circles in Nairobi. Uh thank you so much for that and he was part of the meeting yesterday. Um Prof. Kenyans do understand uh even uh okay I'm I'm informed we do have another report from Nvasha um Willie Dennis before I come to you