The Government Must Not Relent in its Campaign to Streamline Public Transport

An experience travelling in one of the PSV buses plying route 45 left me angry and bitterly cursing the matatu industry.I exchanged strong words with the bus conductor after he reneged on the 40 shillings fare he had used to entice me into the empty bus.The fare suddenly changed to 60 bob.Convinced that the argument would lead to nowhere,I parted with the 60 bob,albeit,grudgingly.Other passengers dared not utter a word of protest and silently acquiesced in the outrageous conduct of this rude conductor.To add insult to injury,when the bus had just left the CBD,the driver turned up the volume of the music system full blast.I had no choice but to try to protect my eardrums by covering my ears with the palms of my hands.Perhaps convinced that he was beyond the reach of law enforcement officers,the driver increased the speed and soon we were moving at full tilt with the young man at the steering wheel bullying other road users by indiscriminately blasting the horn at them.The cowed road users were forced to quickly change lanes to avoid being hit from behind by this lunatic bully.I could not see the speedometer,but I was sure the speed at which we were moving was a far cry from the 50km/hr speed limit recommended for vehicles in towns.Needless to say, the speedometer can not be trusted these days as accurate as many vehicle owners have tampered with them.Speed has become the in thing in this rogue industry that is in dire need of meticulous restructuring.I silently thanked my Maker after disembarking that I had reached my destination unscathed and that ,atleast,I could continue enjoying my sumptious meal of Ugali and sukuma wiki.

The well-intentioned efforts by the government to streamline public transport has elicited a wide range of reactions and caused alot of brouhaha from industry players and the larger public.It is an industry that has become synonymous with indiscipline,madness,nonchalant violation of traffic rules,carnage...you name it;the list is endless.It is saturated with speed freaks and adrenaline junkies whose overriding preoccupation is making as much money as possible within the shortest time,and whose morbid fascination with rally speeds is mindboggling to say the least.When caught,they never hesitate to bribe their way out of the orbit of the law and are soon on the road perpetrating this unspeakable lunacy with even more intensity.

In light of this chilling state of affairs,I strongly support state efforts at curtailing this problem.Infact,the curtaiment measures are long overdue and they should be implemented with even more zeal and vigour.This form of terrorism,I dare say,perpetrated on our roads must not be allowed to persist as a matter of fundamental principle.To bring about change and ensure compliance to traffic rules by all PSVs,those charged with this mandate must demonstrate the uncompromising resolve personified by the late Transport minister,John Michuki,during his ephemeral tenure in that docket and who brought sweeping reforms in the transport sector.They must be beyond reproach like the wife of Ceasar.

I hail the government for re-introducing the reviled gadgets known as Breathalyzers to deter drivers from driving while drunk and roll back the grim statistics of carnage emanating from drunk driving.The wisdom of this measure,in spite of the resentment it continues to inspire from different quaters,has been vindicated by the decline,undramatic but nonetheless considerable,in the human cost of deaths caused by inebriated drivers who account for almost one third of road carnage.To deepen and sustain this progress,the state must not pander to the plastic insensitivites of business-oriented people in the hospitality industry who have relentlessly breathed fire on the re-introduction of Alcoblow.Business intrests must not be exalted above human life.Their patrons are living people not dead ones whose lives have been snuffed out by such unwarranted insensitivities.

The ban on night travel has considerably reduced road accidents.Before licences are issued to those who wish  to resume night travel,they should as a matter of fundamental principle comply with the new traffic rules.All PSVs must be fitted with the new fool-proof digital speed limiters as required by the new regime of traffic laws.As usual PSV owners have taken to bashing the government accusing it of arbitrariness in asking them to embrace the improved version of speed limiters on short notice.Seriously,how much time do they requier to comply?Eternity?Even if they were given eternity to comply they would still complain.We have grown weary of their tantrums and our patience for such is fast wearing thin.Recently,they inconvinienced innocent Kenyans who had nothing whatsoever to do with their alleged woes by transforming the Thika road Superhighway into a theatre of super madness.

Mr.President,your determination to instil discipline in this industry is impeccable and it must not waver.This long overdue campaign must gain even more steam.I here that some industry players have vowed to have their pound of flesh in 2017.Leadership is not about yielding to selfish interests but providing leadership that can steer a nation out of an abyss;the stuff of which legitimate statecraft is made.The problem in our public transport is a deep,jagged wound that mus be cauterized immediately and without hesitation