Ban matatus, nationalise sector or have few operators

By Mugambi Nandi

Matatus operators took their lawlessness and impunity to a new low during their protest against the new parking charges last week. I loathe matatus. I have even forgotten, if only for a moment, that there should be no levies without services. My revulsion for matatus may have something to do with the fact that ten years ago one of them hit my car and, even though I got an award of damages in court, the owner used all tricks in the jungle to get away with it. My personal woes aside, it is imperative that decisive action is taken, as a matter of extreme urgency, to rid the country of matatus. It is clear that the creation of SACCOs to run the industry has not worked.

The matatu industry has a poor reputation but the players in it do not care about such things.

There is nothing endearing about matatus. Nothing! Not their driving, if one may stretch “driving” to include what those lunatics do at the wheel. They are death traps, in which no less than 20,000 people have died in the last ten years alone, and thousands more maimed. Not their cleanliness and general hygiene. Not their general mechanical condition. Not the way they treat passengers and other road users.

Yet matatu operators have convinced themselves xwe cannot do without them and that everyone must play by their rules, which they make as they go along.

The matatu industry is so focused on profit maximization that nothing else matters. The matatu problem is not complex, but the players in it are.

First, we have politicians who see the industry as an important voting block which must be courted by being allowed to be a law unto itself. Then there are more politicians, policemen and senior civil servants who are investors in the industry. There are retrenchees and retirees who operate one or two matatus, with high targets for their crew. There are the organized gangs of unemployed youth who manage and control routes, dishing out terror and providing “security” in the same breath. All these groups benefit from the matatu chaos in various ways. I suspect the matatu industry costs this country more than it benefits it.

The infamy of our roads as highways of death does not help our tourism. The traffic jams created by the lawlessness of matatus does nothing to help economic activity. Medical bills and accident repair costs are a burden to the economy. The informality of the industry adds little to the exchequer, otherwise for its size the industry would rank very high among top tax payers. I think it is time the Government took a firm decision to either nationalize public transport or place it in the hands of a few private sector operators. If this is done, there will be formal employment for drivers and conductors and managers. They and their families will have at least basic medical cover. The catchment for income tax, NSSF and NHIF contributions will be widened. The operators will employ at least one and a half times the crew currently engaged in the industry, to cater for shifts, sick-offs, and staff on leave.

The rudeness and unprofessionalism we see in the industry will come to an end. There will be price certainty unlike the current situation where fares rise and fall depending on the weather and the time of day. Security might improve as the gangs who control routes will have no role in the reformed sector. There will be fewer accidents and less corruption on the roads. Above all, we will have clean, reliable and efficient public transport. The senior Kenyatta legalized matatus in 1973. History should go full cycle. The junior Kenyatta ought to outlaw them in 2014.