The decision by the Kenya Film Classification Board to crack the whip on PSVs has been long overdue.
It must have been one of the long-awaited interventions by the passengers who have been not once or twice experienced the harassment from rogue conductors and drivers. There is a lot of rot in the public transport sector, especially by matatu operators who flout the rules and regulations of the road, not only by speeding and overloading but also with the noise they make everywhere they pass.
The board under Ezekiel Mutua must ensure that there are strict rules for the matatu operators along highways and especially in the city.
There is indecency that needs to be dealt with appropriately even if it would mean taking non-compliant vehicles off the roads.
City and trans-county matatus have been notorious for the screening of rated content that exposes children to obscenity. In most of these matatus, there is loud music accompanied by videos that are highly sexualized. In these PSVs, people of different calibres and social classes use them and there is a need to consider and encourage morality.
Most drivers and passengers say it is a means to get more customers as every customer would like to be entertained. But it calls for the intervention of the traffic police officers to ensure that noise does not become part of the transport.
This goes a long way to include the writings in the inner body of the matatus. The writings are so obscene and one would not dare board the vehicle especially when with family.
When children are exposed to videos of young men and women dancing in provocative styles that risk moral decadence especially with teenagers who are at a fluid age.
This becomes part of their lifestyle gradually and sooner, without an intervention from the board to review what to be exposed to the passengers, there is big damage to the morality of the community.
Most of the next generation will be sex-oriented because of what they are exposed to. The situation at the matatu sector is further expanded by the social media that glorify sex. Most youths spend more time on social media, reasons best known to themselves. Passengers have complained of the harshness they are exposed to while travelling but not a single step has been taken to avert the situation.
Some of the music played on matatus promotes violence and that would explain the numerous cases of touts pushing passengers off a moving bus.
Therefore, it is the responsibility of the board to ensure the highly sex rated films are banned from the public as well as use of languages that lowers women's dignity are treated as offences.
Maseno University
