Very few matatu conductors in Kenya are pleasant as most of them are known for arguing and often mistreating passengers. For one, Roman Oduor his life has today changed because of a stupid decision he made over ten Kenya Shillings.
A court in Kisumu has today found Roman Oduor guilty of murder Abdallah Yunis and has sentenced him to 30 years in prison for pushing the passenger out of the vehicle leading to his death in 1995.
According to court records, the conductor pushed a passenger identified as Abdallah Yunis out of a moving vehicle after he refused to pay Ksh. 10 that was the balance of the bus fare he had paid.
While delivering the sentence, Justice Fred Ochieng termed the act as inhuman and unprofessional behaviour from the matatu crew.
“Pushing a passenger to his death was cruel and uncalled for. This impunity orchestrated by the matatu crew must stop,” he ruled.
The deceased, Abdallah Yunis had boarded the matatu travelling from Nairobi show ground to alight at Makina stage. He reportedly gave the conductor Ksh. 100 and expected Ksh. 90 as change but the conductor returned to him only Ksh. 80 and refused with the Ksh. 10.
This sparked a heated argument the two during which Oduor pushed Abdallah out of the moving matatu. Aziz is said to have fallen and died. Witnesses who testified in the case said that the matatu crew fled after committing the criminal act.
“The quarrel was between the conductor and the matatu on whether the fare was Sh10 or Sh20,” the witness testified.
Oduor was serving a death sentence and had been incarcerated for 22 years but after the Supreme Court declared the penal code unconstitutional, he appealed through his lawyer Steve Odumbe.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has put the unruly public transport sector on notice and vowed to bring an end to the lawlessness.
“We are dealing with a sector where people have actually decided to be the law themselves. This public transport sector has grown into some sort of a monster,” said Matiang’i.