#FRONTROW: Let’s get rid of matatus; if we don’t, they’ll kill us all

I love matatus, but they have to go. If they remain on the roads, they will kill us all eventually. John Michuki must be truly turning in his grave whenever he sees the maniacal mess that the industry he once fixed has degenerated into. There is a reason the changes he brought into the public transport sector are called the Michuki Rules. While the late former Transport minister showed that you could bring sanity and a semblance of decency to a lawless business, it is too far gone now to turn back the tide.

Any rational person will struggle with the fact that the Ongata Rongai matatu involved in a fatal accident two Sundays ago was on the road in the first place. The Motor Vehicle Inspection Directorate cleared KCG 784M despite details showing  that its speed governor was being used by three other vehicles. About 4,300 passengers die in road accidents annually, according to data from the World Health Organisation. The National Transport Safety Authority (NTSA) cites much lower numbers on its website, claiming that only 668 passengers were killed on the road last year.

“NTSA officials are expensive as they demand at least a Sh2,000 bribe or retain cash bail so that you are not taken to court,” an official of one of the matatu saccos on the Rongai route told the Sunday Nation a few days ago. Now look at the discrepancy in those numbers again. “There are no laws for helmet wearing, Blood alcohol concentration levels for drivers or child restraints in Kenya and where road safety laws do exist they are poorly enforced,” the WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety said in 2013. The NTSA now selectively enforces the law against driving under the influence  with the infamous Alcoblow gadgets, but that is hardly the problem. 

Even if the regulations for wearing helmets while riding motorcycles were tightened and child restraints made mandatory, the matatu problem would still be unresolved. The truth is that matatus are entirely incapable of playing by the rules. Most Western nations do not require passengers to wear seat belts in public transport and they rarely have any fatal accidents. In many of them, there are even allocations for standing passengers, which is illegal in Kenya.

FAILED COMPLETELY

Consider for instance that cashless payment in matatus failed completely even after President Uhuru Kenyatta famously launched it, backed by some of the biggest companies in Kenya. Removing cash from the equation would disrupt the cartels that exist in the matatu sector so it was deliberately frustrated and was doomed to fail from the start. Cash alone is not the problem. What the matatu industry needs in Kenya is an attitude adjustment. Matatus are a law unto themselves. The roads belong to those wheels of death, the rest of us just use them at their courtesy.

Repeated efforts to professionalise the matatu business, make it more efficient and increase safety have all failed, with each worse than the previous one. Even organising operators into saccos for easy enforcement has not made a difference. There are rogue saccos well known to passengers but protected by corrupt police and NTSA officials getting away with murder every day. The argument against the 14-seater matatus in favour of the 39-seater minibuses has also fallen apart. Those little “Nissans”, as Kenyans incorrectly call them, are notoriously reckless on the roads but so are their slightly larger cousins.

Overly decorated matatus with loud music, complete with all the bells and whistles are a beautiful expression of our urban culture. I am ready to give all that up for bland public buses that run on time, have fixed fares regardless of time, and do not kill people. Heck, I would give my right arm for a properly functional public transport system in Nairobi. Getting rid of all matatus from the roads is the first step towards restoring real order around how Kenyans commute. If it means that the government buys all those matatus and crushes them, so be it.

Once those death traps are completely out of sight, a public agency such as Transport for London can have a fresh start. Transport for London runs one of the world’s most efficient bus, train and tram systems in the world. It is profitable and all the surplus is reinvested in making the London Underground, Overground, Bus, DLR, River and National Rail better. Across the Atlantic, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey as well as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority are good examples. Both cities are heavily populated, complex operations that require a well thought-out way to get everyone where they are going. If London or New York had matatus, nobody would be able to leave their house. It is time to phase out matatus in the major cities and replace them with something that works. Anything. 

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Raila Odinga’s crazy schedule

I saw Raila Odinga at the after-party of the Queen of Katwe launch in Kampala, Uganda. He was sitting in the VIP area with Senator Anyang’ Nyong’o and Governor Wycliffe Oparanya. I went over to say hello before the cast of the excellent Mira Nair film arrived at the rooftop of the Sky Lounge & Restaurant.

“What brings you here?” he wanted to know and I explained that we had broadcast my show live from the Ugandan capital the previous day.

 He had flown in earlier that evening from two political engagements that day in Kisumu and Eldoret. A few hours earlier, while visiting the NBS Uganda newsroom, I overheard an anchor preparing for an interview with the Cord Leader.

“You keep a busy schedule for a man of your age,” I told him to much laughter. He didn’t seem to mind and genuinely appears to enjoy all that smiling, shaking hands and taking selfies.

 I floated over to the other side of the room to schmooze some more but kept in mind that he is 71, not young by any long shot. He was energetic throughout the night and even when I left the party a few hours later, he was still there.

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Why I have boycotted South Africa

I love South Africa and the people were immeasurably gracious to me when I worked there in 2012 but I’m not going back. I visit a few times each year and maintain many great relationships in the Rainbow Nation. In July, we did an excellent tour of Cape Town thanks to the wonderful people at the South African Tourism Board. However, I am totally boycotting going to South Africa because I’m tired of being demeaned and treated with contempt by fellow Africans. That is the domain of the Europeans and Americans. I am not ready to pay Sh4,700, wait 7 working days only to receive a 1-month, single entry visa to South Africa. Even those famously rigid Americans give qualifying Kenyans 5-year visas, why should South Africa treat us like trash? Unless this is adequately addressed when President Kenyatta meets President Zuma, I’ll stay away. I hope you will too.

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FEEDBACK: ON TRIBALISM IN OUR UNIVERSITIES

Larry, you made my day with your searing piece on the disease currently afflicting most of our universities. I hope your write-up will inspire CS Matiang’i to initiate legislation to the effect that in appointing VCs, “coming from the local area will automatically disqualify you”.

John Kimani

Your article was a great piece, with the usual sarcasm. Keep it up! Our constitution is premised on devolution and public participation as the prime centrepieces anchoring how the affairs of State shall be managed.  The spirit of devolution, or majimboism, was a reactionary feeling to exclusion, and so is seen as the panacea.

Why does the constitution stipulate that every county should have a university? Isn’t it so that they can own it? Absurd.

Look at employment in the county administrative units, it’s pure nepotism. This applies to doing business with these units, where there is open discrimination based on surname, especially if you are an “outsider”.

The demand that “locals” be given priority over outsiders in the construction of national infrastructure and that they be given tenders in preference to utsiders in the  Turkana oil projects, for instance,  is a perpetuation of tribalism. The same is replicated in universities. 

A. Njoroge

Larry, when it comes to tribalism, we should not mince our words. We often elect leaders simply because we know them. As a result, development suffers because they don’t have the flair for duty.

We should start electing leaders based on their abilities. And this should start from the grassroots.

We choose MCAs according to our clans, and this will reflect at the national level if Kenyans don’t become responsible. Why should we appoint university leaders on a tribal basis? What image are we portraying for future leaders?

Mercy

Larry, allow me correct you: The leaders you mentioned were advocating for Dr Kosgey’s appointment on merit. Their grouse was that he attended the interview and emerged the best but was denied the chance to be the VC of Moi Univeristy since it is in his home turf.  It had nothing to do with tribalism.

Elias Kipkemei