Why Jua Kali mechanics could risk your life this Christmas

A mechanic repairs a car at a Jua Kali garage in Ngara, Nairobi

The annual Nairobi-rural Kenya Christmas migration is days away, with indications this year will be no different from the past.

At the Jua Kali garages of Kariobangi, Roysambu, Ngara and Mlolongo, mechanics are reporting good car repair business and they expect it to peak this weekend.

“Come weekend, there will be no haggling with the tie guys," says a welder at Mlolongo who identified himself only as Sammy.

"It is take it or leave it,” he adds.

Normally, he says, this is a two phase ritual. Motorists bring their cars for repairs before they travel upcountry for Christmas and again after the festivities to repair broken parts, he told The Standard.

The "ignorant and stingy office people" do not want to pay a fair price for a good job, he said when asked why the repairs are that temporary.

“So we do the quickest and cheapest fix possible,” he added.

But metal experts say the quality of vehicle welding in local garages is extremely poor and a threat to the safety of road users.

They blame a significant number of the many traffic accidents on Kenyan roads to poorly welded car parts.

This, metal experts say, is compounded by the increasing number of reconditioned cars on the local roads that require constant welding of parts.

“There is growing concern over the safety of the Jua Kali welding works in Kenya,” says a recent study by the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology at the University of Nairobi.

A team led by John K Birir had investigated the quality of metal welding in the Jua Kali sector in Kenya and reported that they were a disaster.

“Many fatalities and injuries related to road accidents in Kenya are caused by defects in motor vehicles, which to some extent can be linked to poor workmanship at the fabrication and Jua Kali repair workshops,” says the unpublished study.

The researchers had collected 92 welded samples from Jua Kali centres at Ngong, Dagoretti, Mlolongo, City-stadium, Kitale, Kisumu, Mombasa and Meru. “The welded joints were subjected to visual inspection, radiographic tests and tensile tests to identify the kind of flaws present and their mode of failure,” explained the researchers.

From this study it was concluded that the quality of car welding is very poor in Kenya especially in the Jua kali sector,” concluded the study.

“When subjected to tensile loads, 60 per cent of the specimen fractured at the weld joint while the remaining 40 per cent fractured at the parent metal,” confirms the test results done at the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) in Nairobi.

The poor quality of workmanship was attributed to incompetency and weak skills of artisans and technicians.

A second study by Stephen Karanja Mwangi of the same institute also recorded similar results.

Mr Mwangi had collected welded samples from Shauri Moyo Jua Kali open air market in Nairobi along Jogoo Road and Nyeri Jua Kali shades next to Nyeri Municipal Hall.

RADIOLOGY TECHNOLOGY

These were also tested at KEBS laboratories using radiology technology to assess the quality of welded joints at the jua kali sheds.

The study showed that 86 per cent to 100 per cent of the welds were defective hence non-compliant to the industry’s ISO 5817 standards.

Mwangi attributed this high number of defective Jua Kali welds to unacceptable welding standards in conjunction with poor techniques.

“As a result, the quality of Jua Kali welds and resulting products is highly compromised,” he says.

The defects, he says, were mainly caused by poor preparation, poor welding skills such as cleanliness and equipment handling.

“The other potential cause is poor working environment, where the operation area is not properly shielded from wind and dust,” says Mwangi.

The two studies recommend work training for the artisans, developing quality standards and stringently making sure they are observed.