Commentaries

Societal connivance in road carnage

Details

Published on Saturday, 11 August 2007 18:15

This is an indictment of Abagusii for murdering five members of a family, earlier this week. More importantly, it is an indictment of the police, who knew that the carnage was imminent.

The week began with news from my home district, Nyamira, that several people had died in a gory matatu accident. Five of them were from a little village outside the town, where I was born. The report sent me back to the summer of last year, when, after 12 years in the United States, I returned home.

When I arrived in Nairobi last May, I was pleasantly surprised to see people line up to enter buses and matatus in an orderly manner. That same week, I took a minibus home to Nyamira. Once again, I was happy that everyone had a seat.

However, my heart began to sink when the minibus entered Nyamira District. The crew packed it with more people, the driver increased his speed. When we approached a police check, the conductor pulled out Shs.200 and openly bribed one of the cops.

"I didn't find the charcoal you sent me, Afande," he said, as the passengers laughed.

Over the next three months, I visited several parts of the country, but nowhere did I see more reckless and arrogant matatu drivers than in the Gusii region. I went from Kisii to Migori three times, and all three times I heard at least two commuters swear they would never get in a matatu operated by Wakisii. The ones run by Luos were friendlier.

And nowhere did I see cops more corrupt than in Gusii. On any given day, between Nyamira and Kisii - a 30-minute drive - there were at least three roadblocks. Overcrowded vehicles slow down at checkpoints, conductors drop cash, drivers speed away, leaving the cops smiling.

From Kericho to Nairobi, you'll find no matatu or bus carrying beyond the limit. Kericho to Nyamira, the story is different. Sometimes drivers don't even stop when officers command them to. "We paid them earlier," a conductor would say.

Other times, the men and women supposed to enforce the laws are in the vehicles, as violations take place. (See photo).

When I asked one driver, a childhood friend, why drivers in Gusii break the law, he said, "Those were Michuki's laws."

That answer prompted me to ask Kenyans, especially those advocating for a new constitution, "What good would new laws bring to Kenya if we won't enforce them?"