Matatu operators petition Parliament for laws to curb insurance fraud
The Federation of Public Transport Sector (FPTS) highlighted unethical practices by a few legal practitioners, including manipulation of service affidavits, ghost claimants, and excessive legal fees.
Operators of Matatus are pressing Parliament to introduce new laws aimed at shielding them from fraudulent insurance claims, accusing the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) of failing to protect operators from inflated and false claims.
The Federation of Public Transport Sector (FPTS), representing PSV owners, presented a petition to the National Assembly’s Public Petitions Committee, highlighting unethical practices by a few legal practitioners, including manipulation of service affidavits, ghost claimants, and excessive legal fees.
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FPTS said the absence of a proper passenger manifest system makes it easy for individuals to claim personal injury without evidence of travel in PSVs. Kushian Muchiri, the FPTS chief executive officer, blamed manual, cash-based fare collection for worsening the fraud problem.
“We propose an amendment to the Insurance Act and amend the Traffic Act to mandate a cashlite fare collection system across all licensed PSVs, using a dual-mode approach: QR Code and USSD-enabled payment channels,” he said.
Muchiri explained that cashless fare systems would allow PSV operators to identify who was in the vehicle during accidents, limiting opportunities for opportunistic lawyers.
He added that 90 per cent of fares are already collected digitally, and legal enforcement would benefit operators who initially opposed digital payments.
He also criticised the continued use of manual Occurrence Books (OBs) for reporting accidents, saying they are prone to data loss, manipulation, and delays.
FPTS has proposed amendments to the National Police Service Act (NPS) to require a unique verification code from the IRA to be included in OBs for all road accidents.
“Amend the NPS Act to provide for regulations guiding mandatory nationwide digitisation of Occurrence Books used in road accident reporting and mandatory unique verification code from IRA’s national claim database, which shall be used in the generation of police abstracts,” Muchiri said.
The National Assembly Public Petitions Committee, led by Soy MP Janet Sitienei, is expected to examine these recommendations as part of ongoing efforts to improve accountability and transparency in the PSV sector.
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