Skip to main content

Culture of Impunity: The Matatu manifestation

"Kenya is a friendly country, going to the coast or in most upcountry towns, Kenyans will smile with you, say hi and even offer help on your way around". The problem with the above statement is that some Kenyans are not happy with it. In short, they are no longer interested in advancing any bit of friendliness; in contrast, they are more interested in making the lives of others difficult. They do this mostly by illegally taking others own, either directly or indirectly. They do this directly by common robbery while indirectly by soliciting for bribes or refusing to follow acceptable procedures when dealing with the public. This behavior has become so widespread in Kenya that it is now called the Culture of impunity.

This became quite clear to me this week in several incidents. In the first incident, traffic police had mounted an operation to net vehicles flouting traffic rules along Ronald Ngala street. Several matatu drivers usually drive across the bank dividing the two way street. Traffic police who tried to flag down this irate drivers had to chase them down a street with the matatus eventually speeding off, escaping unpunished.

In the second incident we were passengers in a 14 seater matatu plying Thika road. The matatu was playing a gospel VCD, and it was about 6.00 a.m. On encountering a traffic jam, the driver decided to drive off the road along the shoulders.Given that it was slightly dark, the driver had not seen some large pot holes along his chosen path, and the vehicle hit them , making it jerk violently. This was received by clicks from a few passengers and slight grumbling from one other passenger. The rest quietly watched as the driver returned to the road, where he limited his antics to frequent switching of lanes along the road, probably humbled by his oversight, but nevertheless without guilt.

Incident number 3 occurred at the bus stop. The bus stop is a place where passengers waiting for vehicles charging normal fares exchange stares with touts keen enough to charge a slightly hire fare. Therefore, when the occasional bus charging normal fares arrive, passengers scramble for it, jostling and stepping over each others toes to get the privilege of paying the normal fare.(14 seaters prefer to charge a slightly higher fare since given that they include crazy driving antics-mentioned elsewhere in this article-in the package) In this incident, a bus charging normal fares arrived, and I scrambled for it. In the process, I miscalculated my steps and ended up almost falling over a certain lady, pushing her in the process. To my astonishment, the lady went out of her way to profusely apologize for the incident, despite her been the victim. To make it more embarrassing, the bus even took a little longer to get enough passengers, and was one of those designed for people with short knees(my knees were in a tight squeeze due to the proximity of the seats to each other). In most bus stops, it is acceptable behaviour to trample , kick and push fellow passengers in order to board a vehicle.

Incident number 4 has been reported from gotissuez.com. One of the members narrates an incident in which a matatu driver decided to drive off the road to beat the traffic jam. As he does so, he speeds down the pavement, hooting at the poor pedestrians. A woman with two school children had to drag them along into a ditch to avoid been run down. Comments on the post indicated that school children along Eastlands face a big threat from such matatu drivers. This is despite the law stating that a driver is liable for running down a child, irrespective of whether the child was in the wrong.Most accidents in Kenya are hit(occur) and run especially when they involve human casualties; either the vehicle speeds off or the driver of the vehicle goes missing. Others involve bribes to cover up for law breaking, or cases where an uninsured vehicle was illegally plying the road.

Incident number 5 involves reports from varied places including gotissuez.com. This incident is not about matatus playing loud music, or obscene music. It is about various matatus playing pornography, without the consent/proof-of-age of any of the passengers. Apparently, this behaviour is taking root in more and more matatus. To what moral decancy have we fallen such that we have let pornography escape from secluded places to be displayed to all and sundry? What makes it worse is the passengers who will sit to comfortably watch this in a public service vehicle!

All this incidents display our culture of impunity and its manifestation in one of the many sectors in the country. The culture, began by the colonialists, has slowly spread down the ranks of the government and out of it to become common place in Kenya. The colonialists adopted it because it served their interests well not to punish wrong doers within the colonial system, especially if the victims were colonial subjects. The first Kenyan ruling class (after independence) saw it fit to adopt the same culture in the quest to quickly enrich themselves. They were so selfish, that they even overlooked the spread of the culture.

The culture is now entrenched in the public. Most of the public will make noise about it's effects in sectors that negatively affect them, but go ahead to adopt and practice it when it is their turn to eat.

Comments

I totally agree with you on this, we are so quick to blame our leaders of fueling the culture of impunity yet we some of us partake of it ...for example it saddens me when I see a passenger standing in a hoppa or someone sharing a seat with the kange or a passenger telling the driver "si upande huku kama wenzako". These are the same people who, after they alight, will start saying that they miss Mr. Michuki as Min. of Transport. Mr. michuki played his part...lets play ours.

Thanks for siting our site :-)bd

Popular posts from this blog

Beers in Kenya: A sober opinion

Note: This is a dated post and has since been mostly passed by events. SAB Miller beers including Castle and Peroni are no longer widely available in Kenya after their exist. Sirville Brewery was bought out by Brew Bistro before being permanently shut in a tax dispute. Kenya is a land of milk, honey, beaches and taxes. I have penned, or is typed, a newer post here .  Peroni - One of the best beers in Kenya. Did a taste of canned and bottled Italian, and bottled Tanzanian I like the tangy flavour and body in Tanzanian Peroni. The can is close. Heineken drinkers will like the Italian one.  I have had a short beer swigging stint in my life. It has however been long enough for me to share my opinion of Kenyan beer. Interestingly, over the course of sharing such opinions with other drunkards connoisseurs,  I have found that we all have different views as to what beer is the best, which one makes you too drunk, or which one gives one free, extra hangover for every hangover you get

Nairobi's Top 4 Texas Brisket Places Reviewed and Ranked

Brisket on a bed of roast vegetables with barbecue sauce at Texas Brisket, Kikuyu  This review has been updated after a number of you suggested I try the brisket at County2County.  What's the best place to have Brisket in Nairobi? What's even brisket?  Brisket is one of the toughest cuts in a cow, from around the belly. It is so tough that it has to be smoked for about 16 hours to tenderise. But that there, is the catch.  12 to 16 hours later, it is the most flavourful and softest cut you will ever have. So full of flavour and so soft you can pick it apart with your fingers.  However, due to the long cooking time involved, only a few places offer brisket in Nairobi.  The best so far is Texas Brisket which is located within Kikuyu Railway station.  They do the meat for a proper 16 hours, and will usually have a fatty or non-fatty portion. The fatty portions are more tasty. A 500 gram serving goes for KSh. 900 and a 1 KG order comes with a serving of free fries. Their brisket has

Kenyan products: The art of punishing your consumer

This post was written in 2011. Facts may have and indeed have changed - but the conclusion has not.  Dormans instant coffee tastes better than Sasini instant coffee. Ramtons electronics are manufactured for Kenya's Hypermart Limited, yet maintain a high product quality Peanut butter used to taste so good, but you could not afford it on the pocket money that you got back in school. A few years later, you have your first real job and your first "disposable" income. You buy your first real tub of peanut butter, probably the first in your life. You feel proud that Dominion peanut butter is manufactured in Ruiru, a town that you visited in your campus days to withdraw your pocket money, it was the nearest bank ATM to your campus.  This was before Equity bank became a mainstream bank and decided to open an ATM in your campus, and before M-Pesa meant that you

Kenya Power customers suffer from Ksh 0.5 billion faulty prepaid meters

1st Phase Actaris prepaid meters , which work well Kenya Power is a famous company in Kenya, one which draws what my colleagues in media will call "mixed reactions". While those in urban areas such as Nairobi regard Kenya Power as a very unreliable firm, I have heard of villages in rural areas where blackouts go unreported for even 3 days . To the rural people, recent electrification means that at least they get to get electricity for some days, which is better than no electricity. In urban areas, the story is not any different. Around Imara Daima along Mombasa Road, power is mostly reliable, with blackouts been few in a week, and even at times been less than 10 in a month. In other places in the city, blackouts are a daily occurrence, and in some places, the blackouts are more than meals, counting two teas , breakfast, lunch and dinner. Another aspect about Kenya Power is the prepaid meters, which like the firm, are equally loved and hated. Ever since I became prou

Why Nairobi doesn't need Syokimaus

Delhi's Bus Rapid Transit system showing bus lanes against traffic in other lanes (image: http://blog.propertynice.com )  On 13th November, 2012, Kenya opened its first railway station, as we get to celebrate 49 years since Independence. In a move hailed by many far and wide, Kenya also announced that it had finally broken the curse and built a two kilometre track to the newly opened Syokimau. It is said that this is the first time the railway had seen any action in more than 50 years. To some, this was the equivalent of Kenya putting a man on the moon. It would bring lots of pride to millions of Kenya, just as the hundreds of millions of Indians see their chest swell with pride when their country launches a rocket into space, or successfully does a nuclear bomb test. I even saw a few Ugandans, where the presidential motorcade is said to occasionally tag along a Howitzer (Google images), wonder where their country got left off in such remarkable feats. H