The list of shame? Yes the country right now is faceless. Not because everyone is careless but just because of a few matatus who want to operate on their own pleasure. They few who have decided to operate in their own world that is not guided by any laws.
The madness that is hyped by few individuals who are more interested in growing their bellies than taking care of human life. Where did we lose the sense of humanity as a country? let me ask the same old question,”where did the rains start beating us.”
For any growing economy a well structured transport system is the core for the mobility. But in Kenya that is not the case. The transport system literally looks like an independent organ. Any person who owns a car or a matatu can decide put in the road. The system operates like a jungle.
public transport sector has been characterised by flagrant breaches of the Highway Code, overlapping, obstruction of other road users, double parking and outright impunity.
Add to that corruption.
The matatus have distinguished themselves as a messy, uncontrolled operation by cartels whose by-word is jungle law. At the center of the current crackdown is how to regain control of the public transport sector from the jaws of threatening cartels and secure the multi-billion-shilling industry for both the investor and the commuting public at its mercy.
With rising insecurity, compounded by the lawlessness of mushrooming boda bodas, the government was duty-bound to step in. And when it did, it was met with the expected resistance, protests and boycotts.
The chaos has put Nairobi and Kenya at large at number three among places with the worst public transport in the world.
Leading entertainment platform TheRichest.com describes the Kenyan situation as challenging for citizens and far more inconvenient for visitors.
If you get onto a matatu, remember there is no guarantee that you’ll actually be taken to your intended destination,” it says.
“If a matatu driver has fewer passengers on the route he’s on and spots a crowd of people waiting on the other way, he can, and will, unceremoniously drop you off, take a U-turn and zip off to where the money is.” It added that operators are unruly, rude and unconcerned about rules or safety.
Seven years ago, Rwanda was in a similar situation of matatu madness — unreliable transport and a litany of passenger complaints. The sector was difficult to regulate. Today, the country runs one of the most efficient, orderly, reliable and best public transport systems in Africa.