Two devils are pitted against each other. The bribe-taking devil is up in arms against the bribe-giving. It is difficult to love the police. It is difficult to love the Matatu crews. But if the two devils fight, I will support the devil in uniform.
Every Matatu strike is always an inconvenience to commuters in the city.
Many businesses are affected because most employees do not get to work on time or not at all. Goods delivered by matatu do not arrive either-it is a total mess.
Matatu people often exert their anger on innocent commuters because of their little problems with the police. Whatever they do, they always punish, harass and humiliate the commuter.
When it rains, matatus raise fares. They raise fares because they are swamped by demand since most people want to rush home at this time. When it is late in the evening Matatus raise fares again. They raise fares again because they say the vehicles on the road at that time are the very last transport you will come a cross. “Gari ya mwisho Kileleshwa sabini,” Ksh. 70 last vehicle to Kileleshwa they say.
When there is a traffic jam, matatus raise fares. They do not explain why they have done this. But the reasoning is that jams reduce that jams reduce the number of trips they need to make in order to realize their daily targets.
Harassment on a matatu by crews takes different humiliating forms. Overloading is back. The aisle, especially in Nissan minibuses, is narrow making navigation to the seats a struggle.
The seats are also too close to each other as to cause tall people in all forms of contortions in order to sit, never settle.The comfort of the passenger has never worried the matatu crews and owners. As if the discomfort is not enough, there is the discomfort that is forced on one as the ears are assailed by loud music.
Next will be the obscenities that greet the passenger who dares complain about this noise. The matatu tout is adept at humiliating one-line-put down. The complaining chap will be dismissed on account of his age; his physique, gender or assumed poverty.
Matatu crews not only harass and humiliate commuters, they also kill them! Most of the so called road accidents are mostly caused by drunk driving and the common matatu rush to nowhere. If you are a motorist using a road with matatus then you must have been overtaken at high-speed on a highway by the crew, only to halt a few meters ahead without warning. Reason, they have seen a passenger.
They not only harass those who get into their vehicles. They do it to other road users- motorists and pedestrians alike. When I was a new driver in Nairobi, my car stalled on Kenyatta avenue, a matatu tout triumphantly screamed at me to toa stovu yako njiani (remove my stove on the road!)
The other day I saw a lady motorist with an L plate on her car go through a similar, but more devastating experience. Stuck in a jam, her engine went off. She switched it on as the traffic began to move, as she struggled to get into the right gear, a matatu weaving its way through the slightest gap screeched to a stop besides her.
The tout banged the roof of her car and screamed KURUTUUU! Her car stuttered and the engine stopped. She was shaking now and went into panic. It was a police officer who come to her rescue. There are worse more, harrowing examples of this mayhem and madness caused by matatu crews on our roads.
You cannot allow matatu people to prevail over police. They will trample on any one, any thing and everything, anywhere and everywhere.
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