Kenyans have got to demand better from the public transport industry.
Since, and even before, President Uhuru Kenyatta reopened the country, the matatu sector has been behaving abominably.
It is common to find a matatu fully packed despite the government ordering they should carry a certain limit of passengers to enforce social distancing.
Many people have lost their livelihoods, the matatu operators should even be grateful they still have a job to go to.
But to jeopardise Kenyans’ lives as if they are the only ones facing a cash shortfall is so callous, so evil, so barbaric. It is galling, really. Sometimes one feels like damning the whole lot to hell.
But what else would we expect from an industry that behaves as if it is the only one trying to make money in Kenya.
But maybe I’m being too hard on matatu operators. After all, it takes two to tango.
Why a right-thinking (if at all that is what he or she is) Kenyan would board a matatu that is already full, and by this I mean all the seats that should be occupied are occupied and those that are to be left vacant are just that, still baffles.
I was once in this bus plying the CBD-Riruta route whose conductor urged people to make room for her excess passengers because they had their masks on.
Needless to say most people’s masks were under their chin. It is these people who insist on boarding already full buses and matatu that gall me.
Some people are no longer wearing masks and still want to board vehicles as excess passengers. Honestly, if you don’t care for your life, kufa pekee yako. Or buy your own car.
Every day we are urged by Health ministry officials to be our brother’s keeper but everywhere one turns one is confronted with so many reckless people. It’s disheartening.
Nairobi
