Government to blame for mess, experts say

By Kenfrey Kiberenge and Joe Kiarie

The matatu strike exposed the rot and mess in the public transport system following decades of negligence by the Government.

And with 100 per cent of the industry being controlled by private investors, the entire country and economy were held to ransom. All the Government could do was to assure private investors who wished to continue operating that their vehicles would be protected.

But this was not the first time the operators paralysed transport neither will it be the last. A few weeks before the strike, analysts had warned that leaving such a crucial sector to private investors without direct Government control is a recipe for chaos.

Transport Paralysed

Kenya Bus Services Management Ltd Managing Director Edwins Mukabanah had cautioned that it was wrong for the Government to leave public transport in the hands of citizens.

And the National Taxpayers Association chairman Michael Otieno argued that the sector holds a security element that should not be compromised.

"Today, if operators withdrew their vehicles from the roads, the country would grind to a halt," said Otieno. A week later, what they dreaded came to pass: matatu operators pulled out their vehicles out of the roads, paralysing public transport.

While some Kenyans remained marooned upcountry, hundreds of thousands others trekked to and from work.

State Indifference

According to Mukabanah, the mess is brought about by the Government’s indifference to restoring sanity in the sector.

"All over the world, the business of transporting people is the duty of the Government," he said.

A report on the matatu industry in Nairobi, authored by Jennifer Graeff, the project co-ordinator at the Centre for Sustainable Urban Development, identifies lack of political will as the main reason the matatu industry is disorganised.

The era when State agencies such as the City Council of Nairobi held stakes in bus companies is long gone. It started in 1966, when the council gave Overseas Transport Company, the then owners of KBS, a monopoly franchise to operate a bus service in return for a 25 per cent shareholding stake.

Later in 1986, the Government introduced the Nyayo Bus Service, which were heavily subsidised. That collapsed barely seven years later. Since then, the industry has been left to citizens.

However, the Government almost got it right in 2004 when John Michuki was at the helm of the Transport Ministry. He introduced rules requiring all PSVs to be fitted with safety belts and speed governors, and to only carry sitting passengers. But that was just a short-term measure that lasted the duration Michuki served as Transport Minister.

Today, there is little, if any, regard for the rules.

Organised bus companies like KBS, Double M and City Hoppa, which have some regard for the rules, form an insignificant fraction of the entire PSV industry.

Another major problem has been the regular friction between police and matatu crews.

Graeff says matatu drivers are reckless since their income and job security is dependent upon daily passenger loads and the daily profit mark set by owners.

Data from the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Analysis indicates that in Nairobi alone, 14-seater matatus are the commonly used mode of transport at 35 per cent while organised bus companies comprise just 3.4 per cent.

Mukabanah says the trend is dangerous since buses should outnumber the small vehicles in a working public transport system.