At the height of the waywardness demonstrated by some matatu crews, a friend recently recounted how he and his seven friends alighted a Juja-Nairobi 14-seater matatu even before they got to their destination. A reportedly insolent conductor had allegedly insulted one of the passengers because the passenger did not have loose money. The conductor could hear none of the intervention by my friend and his company. When the driver stopped the vehicle to eject the ‘errant’ passenger, everyone alighted in solidarity with the passenger.
When I first came across the video recording on Facebook of a Nairobi-bound matatu crew hurling insults at a female passenger and her child, I feared the incident would, just like many others in the past, go unnoticed by the relevant authorities. Thanks to the power of social media and of course the now keener National Transport and Safety Authority, justice for the beleaguered passenger is in the offing. The way the case has been handled definitely sends a clear signal to like-minded matatu operators who think they can get away with such heinous and indecent acts.
In a span of less than two years, hundreds of passengers have reported both psychological and physical assault in the hands of rogue matatu crews. In extreme cases, incidents of passengers being pushed out of moving vehicles have been reported, majority of them resulting in deaths.
Whereas the steps taken so far are commendable, the NTSA and other relevant bodies such as the Kenya Police Traffic Department need to raise the impetus with which such cases are dealt. More than 65 per cent of Kenyans rely on matatus for transport, making matatus indispensable. With this in view, there is dire need to tighten the noose as far as the fight against harassment of passengers is concerned. Just like the passenger who recorded and posted the video online, passengers also have a role to play by being each other's keepers if this menace is to be annihilated successfully.
While we may not rule out incidents where some passengers could be the ones on the offence, it is the responsibility of the crew to report such cases to the relevant authorities. It is no one’s prerogative to take law into their own hands.
