TRANSPORT-KENYA: Gov’t Stands Firm on Minibus Strike

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Joyce Mulama

NAIROBI, Feb 7 2004 (IPS) - Kenya has been reduced to a walking nation, with hundreds of thousands of people covering long distances on foot to work and home everyday. Some walk over 20 kilometres a day.

The sight of winding streams of people, from as early as 4.30 a.m., heading to work have become the order of the day. The crisis heightened on Feb. 1 after Kenya’s minibus taxis, known as matatus, refused to adhere to new rules meant to restore sanity on the road.

Last year, the government launched a massive campaign to restore discipline and safety in the public transport sector, which had been characterised by disorder. During the campaign in Oct. 2003, the minister of transport and communication John Michuki introduced new rules.

The rules require the matatus to install speed regulators and seatbelts to improve road safety.

Before the new rules were introduced, a 14-seater matatu used to carry 22 passengers. Now they must stick to the required number of 14 passengers. The speed regulator will ensure that vehicles do not move beyond the specified speed limit of 80 km per hour.

The rules also apply to public buses, which will only carry 62 sitting passengers. Previously, the buses used to take on board about 180 passengers: 62 sitting and about 120 standing.

The new rules seek to boost security on the roads, on which, an average of 3,000 people die in accidents each year, according to the traffic police department.

“The figures may be higher or slightly lower, but we shall come up with the exact figures soon,” a senior official at the Road Safety department told IPS. “Chances are high that if the new rules are effected the carnage on the road will be greatly reduced.”

When the new rules were introduced, matatu drivers reacted by embarking on a two-day strike last November, paralysing the entire transport system. The drivers were protesting a Jan. 31 deadline issued by Michuki to fit the speed regulators into their vehicles. Those who failed to fit them would be arrested and their licences would be withdrawn, the minister warned.

Statistics show that matatus constitute around 78.2 percent of the country’s public transport system.

The Matatu Owners Association, an umbrella for the Matatu owners, appealed to Michuki to reconsider his decision. “The crisis can be avoided by extending the time by three more months,” the organisation’s chairperson, Simon Kimutai, said.

Their pleas fell on deaf ears, with the government deploying police officers on all roads to discipline law breakers.

Undeterred, Kimutai took his case to court in a bid to seek an order to revoke government’s decision. But on Feb. 4 the High Court threw out his application.

“Some of the Matatu owners were expecting that I would soften. I want to state that it is not the case. I will be firm,” Michuki told a news conference in Nairobi recently.

He warned that, “A plea to extend the deadline is a plea to increase the number of people dying in road accidents.”

Slightly over 10,000 of an estimated 40,000 public service vehicles have been fitted with the speed-controlling devices and seatbelts, according to sources at the ministry of transport’s Motor Vehicle Inspection Unit in Nairobi. In a surprise move, thousands of commuters have backed government’s decision to restore sanity on the roads. Some say Kenya’s public transport system is characterised by unruly touts, violence and robbery.

“We were used to touts abusing us when we boarded their vans. They would raise the volume of their music high and when you asked them to turn it down they would tell you to buy your own car. The government’s decision to restore sanity on the road is the best thing ever to happen to Kenya,” Lilian Otoyo, a secretary at a government department in Nairobi, told IPS. She walks five kilometres to work a day.

An excited Mwaura Mwania, a student in a Nairobi college, added: “In matatus we used to be squeezed like sacks of potatoes and the driver would move at a crazy speed, not caring whether he was carrying human beings. With the new laws, we would now travel comfortably.”

The Chairperson of Kenya Commuters Welfare Association, Mwangi Wakibi, said: “Kenyans should not tire. The changes are for the better, and the walking is just for a while. In due time, the situation will stabilise.”

However, the few vehicles that have passed roadworthiness tests are taking advantage of the shortage of minibuses to hike fares.

In a bizarre incident, a bus driver allegedly threatened to plunge his vehicle into a nearby river after passengers protested a fare hike.

The driver was demanding an equivalent of 8 dollars instead of the official 2.7-dollar fare. The panic-stricken passengers screamed for help attracting the attention of police officers who were in the vicinity. The driver jumped out the window and escaped as the officers arrived.

The government has warned matatu and bus drivers to stop increasing fares.