Of Nairobi’s unique matatu culture and graffiti

A piece of matatu artwork by a student called Kevo fired up my curiosity on matatu names last week. He had drawn a ‘nganya’ in his composition book and christened it ‘Bazooka.’ Initially, I had been mad at the rascal for daring to draw in the composition book.

However, the more I looked at the drawing, the more I realised that Kevo was a budding artist. ‘Bazooka’ appeared so real that I would have been least surprised if the ‘nganya’ had cruised off the page, and in a cloud of dust headed for Thika Road where Kevo indicated it plied.

Thousands of Kenyan kids, like Kevo, are victims of an exam oriented system that is stuffing their brains with content to be spilled out during exams as if they were photocopiers. The Jubilee Government talks of jobs for the youth, my advice to the son of Jomo is to start with the education system.

Let schools equip students with skills instead of memorising stuff that may never come handy in life. Sunday morning found me on a matatu to Nairobi. In Nairobi, I sampled PSV names. I must confess I was rather disappointed to discover that witty writing on PSV is an art on its death bed.

Most PSVs now sport the colours and names of their Sacco. The few I saw, however, didn’t disappoint. I came upon a matatu plying the Meru-Maua route christened ‘Baba Yao’. There was no one to tell me whether the matatu was related to the real ‘Baba Yao’ of Nairobi County.

On the same route, I came upon a bus christened ‘Demagogue,’ next to it, ‘Untouchable’ was prominently displayed at the back.

Is it true some senior cops own PSVs that a junior traffic officer would not risk checking too closely? I hear a transfer to the arid north to deal with camel traffic could be the reward for any such ‘kimbele mbele’ officer.

Godly messages

With most PSVs bearing the names of their Sacco or Godly messages like, ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘God’s Favour, I decided to head for Machakos country bus station. Here the art is also dying and few PSVs had anything to write home about. A bus on the Kisii route boldly proclaimed ‘Baba While You Were Away’ but failed to reveal what happened in ‘Baba’s’ absence.

Many Kayole PSVs have, however, clung to the art. Among others, there was ‘King Kong’ which happens to be the name of the lead rascal in the late Barbra Kimenye’s Moses series.

Vuvuzela’s blared out

Another one made no pretensions about their business and declared ‘Cash Rules Everything Around Me.’

Hooting for passengers with an exhaust pipe that could be heard from NEMA headquarters was, ‘Do Not Withhold Noise.’ As I was walking away, ‘Live Fast and Die Young,’ screeched to a stop.

At Ronald Ngara Street, I was spoilt for choice. I came upon ‘Gambler.’ The owner had probably won it in a lottery for putting the PSV on the road was a gamble. Then there was ‘Come Baby Come’ with the drawing of an innocent lass.

‘Space Craft’ and the ‘Discovery Space Shuttle’ were a clear excuse for cruising down the Thika superhighway at the speed of America’s hell fire missiles. “Humility,’ ‘Good Book,’ ‘Blood of Jesus’ and ‘Order Order,’ were hooting for passengers. A mob of flamboyant, green clad football fans heading for a match commandeered them.

Vuvuzela’s blared out of every window while the driver’s sat on the horns. Across, I saw a PSV christened ‘United States of Africa’ and sporting a portrait of Mandela.

The owner must be a patriotic investor looking forward to a united African continent and the prospects of ferrying passengers across borders.