Creating tough traffic rules that are not enforced makes no sense

A traffic police officer arrests a boda boda rider along the Kisumu-Nairobi highway in July 5, 2016.  PHOTO | TOM OTIENO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • To stop or reduce this carnage, the riders are supposed to follow a set of rules which are only enforced in major towns.
  • There is nothing new in the requirement that riders and passengers ought to wear helmets and reflective jackets.
  • Boda bodas are an enormous source of employment for young people in a country where youth joblessness has become critical.
  • As long as internal democracy within parties remains a foreign concept, then such rules will never work.

The boda boda ‘industry’ in Kenya is a reality that cannot be wished away. In fact, it has been on a growth trajectory for the past five years. These vehicles have become an inescapable part of our traffic.

Therefore, it is surprising that a set of rules and regulations announced by the National Transport and Safety Authority early this week, which make plenty of sense, should have received an unexpected blackout from the mainstream media.

But that’s no matter. Perhaps there are good reasons for this lethargy; the authority has become very good at unleashing all sorts of rules and edicts to regulate, some of them sagacious, some inane, but it has absolutely no capacity to implement them.

Nevertheless, what it says must not be ignored simply because there is a disconnect between good intentions — saving lives — and the reality. The reality is that boda bodas and their passengers have been dying in droves, and those who survive are maimed for life.

To stop or reduce this carnage, the riders are supposed to follow a set of rules which are, quite unfortunately, only enforced in major towns.

To start with, and there is nothing new in this requirement, the riders and passengers ought to wear helmets and reflective jackets. Very few do. For some reason, they cannot bring themselves to invest in this sensible and cost-effective precaution, mainly because nobody is forcing them to.

Thus when they crash, they end up with broken skulls, dismembered limbs, while other vital parts of the anatomy are crushed.

Passengers are not exempt from this unconscionable carelessness either.

Since they want to spend as little as possible on transport, a father will ferry his wife, offspring and even the family goat on one motor-cycle.

IMPLEMENT TRAFFIC RULES

Stopping such foolishness should be the easiest thing in the world, but who cares? It happens all the time, especially in rural areas, and everyone seems to be happy. After all, you will never catch those who are supposed to implement traffic rules riding pillion on a boda boda.

But perhaps the most worrying aspect is to see these riders racing at breakneck speeds.

Again, this is most pronounced in rural areas. One of the reasons, of course, is that those areas are lightly policed. But to me the greater reason is that many of the riders are too young and should not be licensed to get on a bike, let alone carry passengers.

Since they are clueless about traffic rules, and their blood is raging, they become speed-freaks without the requisite skills. In that mood, when they regard themselves to be Ian Duncan, they become lethal weapons.

We must realise that boda bodas are an enormous source of employment for young people in a country where youth joblessness has become critical. The government should find ways of enforcing safety regulations consistently and not too punitively.

What is most strange is that when such regulations are being formulated, the police do not seem to be in the loop, which is curious because they are the only ones who are mandated to enforce them. What’s the point of reiterating such rules, year upon year, if the police are not directly involved?

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On the issue of party hopping, it is easy to understand where our honourable MPs are coming from. Though they spoilt the party by insisting on their right to change their political affiliation at the last minute, they have a valid point.

During the 2013 elections, more than 60 MPs and a couple of governors ditched their parties when they lost nominations but they, nevertheless, got elected on other party tickets.

Since then, a huge number of MPs have decamped from the parties that sponsored them.

As long as nominations remain shambolic, as long as internal democracy within parties remains a foreign concept, then such rules will never work.

The people to blame are those party leaders who insist on favouring some aspirants over others for whatever reason. Should that continue, then such rebellions will become commonplace.