Riding wave of economic turmoil on Tuk Tuk, as one operator is driven out of business

A tuktuk stage at Mowlem in Nyamasaria, Kisumu County. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

I returned a call from a number I didn’t recognise and it turned out to be a Tuk Tuk rider I encountered weeks ago in Diani. “Ni Salim,” he declared and I instantly recalled his buoyant spirit and punctuality.

Also, his ride was pretty clean and his calm, gentle demeanour meant you could converse above the throttled noise from his vehicle’s engine. Salim clarified that the phone dial had been accidental, at 10pm, earlier in the week, but it was just as well I had called back, he said. He had lost his Tuk Tuk to the firm that had loaned him the contraption.

Yes, it’s not just big firms being driven out of business, even so-called “hustlers” are finding it difficult to stay afloat. Salim did not offer a sob story; or attempt at extortion.

He was simply relaying an update on his business, just in case I returned to the township and sought his services. He’s a dignified Kenyan surviving in a land that doesn’t dignify its people.

In solidarity with Salim, I took a ride in a Tuk Tuk this week—not the “private” taxi that Salim offered in Diani, but a matatu of sort that ferries a multitude of passengers, with numerous drop off and pick-up points.

The Tuk Tuk driver wore a skull-cap and a mound of muguka protruding from his cheek, even though he spoke clearly when he announced upcoming stops.

The Tuk Tuk ferried five passengers—three in the back and two in front ensconced between the driver. That’s six adults in all.

It’s a dangerous way to live, I thought to myself, marvelling at the tiny spaces the Tuk Tuk could squeeze through at the least hint of congestion on the road, same way his vehicle was organised to accommodate so many passengers.

I have no idea what are Salim’s prospects of reviving his business and returning to the road.

Or even the many mouths that relied on his industry, and whose futures are now in jeopardy.

That’s what most Kenyans are faced with, every day. As our people are wont to say: hapo ndipo tumefika…