How the dream of a matatu black box was killed by bogus speed governors

After years of playing hide and seek with merchants of death, whose recklessness costs Kenya an estimated 3,000 lives annually, there was a collective sigh of relief last October.

In one clean swoop, the government thought it had nailed crooked but slippery passenger service vehicle (PSV) operators by introducing a new generation speed governor which could record and transmit data and at the same time give a vehicle’s location in real time.