An Investigation Of The Factors Influencing The Performance Of Matatu Saccos In Kiambu County: The Case Of Selected Matatu Saccos Operating In Thika Town, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Matatus are the informal industry in Kenya that provide service to millions of people each day and are essentially the backbone of the transportation system in Kenya. Transport plays an important role in integrating the various sectors in the economy. Matatus account for 80% of the total public transport in the country (Republic of Kenya, 2002).The directive by the Ministry of transport that all the Matatus to join SACCOs or limited liability companies by the end of the year 2010 (Legal notice issued on 23rdDecember, 2010) made the researcher to carry out a study on the factors that influence the performance of these Matatu SACCOs. This research has reviewed the work done previously by other researchers in the areas of the role of the Matatu industry in Kenya, the struggle of regulatory and economic sphere of influence in the Matatu means of transport in Kenya, the organization and the future of Matatu industry in Kenya and efforts to improve the road safety in Kenya amongst other areas. The descriptive research design was used in the methodology. Stratified sampling method was used to draw samples from the selected active Matatu SACCOs registered in Thika West District by the Ministry of Cooperative Development and Marketing. Primary data was collected for further analysis. The data was collected using questionnaires given to the sample members/owners and employees of the selected Matatu SACCOs.Measures of central tendency were used to analyze the quantitative data. The data was presented in form of tables, frequency distributions, percentages, pie charts and bar charts. The analysis of the data was done with the help of SPSSin order to present it in descriptive form. Qualitative data was analyzed by use of the content analysis. The findings and recommendations of this study is useful to the government policy makers and all the stakeholders in the Matatu SACCOs in improving management, growth and profitability of the Matatu SACCOs