Stand in solidarity with taxi drivers against exploitation

A taxi driver joins anti-finance bill 2024 protestors from her car along Kenyatta Avenue. [Denish Ochieng, Standard]

In Drinking from Graveyard Wells, a short story anthology by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, the reader encounters an embellished account of the story behind the creation of Lyft, one of the more popular ride-hailing apps. In it, Ndlovu details the proprietor’s travel to Zimbabwe, where he encounters a shortage of public transportation due to a fuel shortage.

He is then introduced by the locals to the concept of asking for a lift from a total stranger driving in the same direction that one is headed towards, and it is explained to him that the ethos behind this generosity is one of ubuntu.

Rather than appreciate the gesture for what it is, a sign of generosity amongst a caring people, he seizes the idea and turns it into a profit making service. And so, Zimride, later known as Lyft, is born.

The cut-throat idea behind the turning of a generous gesture into a business trickles down into the present day, as Uber drivers in Kenya are currently protesting the pricing set by the app, arguing that the app prices are not only ridiculously low, in the face of ever-rising vehicle and fuel costs, but the apps take too large a percentage of their earnings. 

This is not the first time that ride-hailing app drivers in Kenya are taking to the streets. In previous years, the drivers have attempted various actions, including calling for strikes and forming a union to front their demands.

It is interesting, however, to note that no association of drivers that has taken legal action against Uber has ever won, and so the Kenyan drivers join a long line of drivers around the world who are flogging a dead horse.

As a result, Uber drivers in Kenya have introduced new price lists, which they give to clients who request their services.

According to accounts from the clients, a lot of whom think it wrong for the drivers to demand more than what the app asks them to pay, refusal to pay these added charges has resulted in assault from the drivers as they demand that they be paid more money. Uber’s unflappability has required that drivers take matters into their own hands.

On its part, Uber has responded to the strikes not by listening to the demands of the drivers but instead by prioritising the users.

The company has directed that all incidents of assault be reported to them for action, and users have been doing so in their numbers, even though it is unclear whether and in what form the issues have been addressed.

Because it seems as though the violence of the Uber drivers is being turned on the client instead of the corporation, it is difficult for the average Kenyan to draw parallels between the driver strikes and the ongoing protests against bad governance.

One common response to the strikes and the violence by the drivers is that if they do not like the Uber app, they should simply leave it, maybe even start their own app if they are so disgruntled.

To hear this repeated often is to hear the voice of the ruling class, who insist that if we do not like Kenya as it is, we should just leave. It fails to consider that drivers utilise the app not because they want to, but because the clients they seek are all subscribed to Uber and Bolt.

This is understandable, as any person would go out of their way to find the cheapest way to get around in these tough economic times, even to their own detriment, as was witnessed not long ago when Bolt drivers were reported to be assaulting women.

To go back to the idea of ubuntu that undergirds the concept of ride sharing, the onus would be on the client to stand in solidarity with the drivers by leaving the Uber app and all other apps that unfairly undercut the drivers, and meeting said drivers at their point of need, because Uber certainly will not sacrifice its profits to please the disgruntled driver.

Understanding ubuntu means understanding that we exist because the Uber driver exists, and that we must act not in our own self-interest, but instead in the interest of the collective.

Ms. Njahira is an international lawyer