Dear Editor,
I spent six weeks in Nairobi, Kenya, where I experienced the flouting of codes.
Nairobi traffic lives on two codes: ‘We are carrying esteemed passengers who need to get home or to work fast,’ and ‘Don’t you dare, I also got right of way.’ The first code is famous with the bad boys in town, the matatu (mini-bus) drivers. Most matatu drivers believe that the best way to get to any destination is – very fast. For those interested in riding in these matatus, be sure that your last meal has been well digested and that your estate back home is in order. The second code applies to anyone else driving, cycling or pushing a cart on the road.
In Nairobi, what one needs are terribly efficient brakes. Matatu drivers believe they are the only ones with the right of way. They depend heavily on the goodness of other motorists, thus they drive recklessly. Traffic jams during peak hours worsen the plight of drivers. In spite of this, motorists feel they have the right to drive fast and apply emergency brakes when the need arises. When being driven, therefore, you always carry your heart in your mouth.
The matatus rejoice in having irritatingly loud hooters. They honk willy-nilly. The code is to honk indiscriminately to alert potential passengers by the roadside or to signal the danger they pose to other road users. They hoot upon taking off, hoot to overtake, hoot to turn right and hoot to cross an intersection. Hooting is such a reflex action here that some drivers do it for no reason at all.
Intersections are always congested that the one with the right of way might find himself blocked by another vehicle that just enters with no consideration for the road rules. Apparently, if one intended to observe the road rules, driving in Nairobi would become impossible. Traffic jams coupled with negligent driving on bad roads cause one to become infuriated. Vehicles crawl at a very slow pace, save for the matatus who use the left shoulder ignoring the right of pedestrians who often scamper onto the grass for dear life. The Highway Code states that overtaking is on the right, but matatus overtake on the left shoulder of the road.
Traffic-light controlled intersections are a circus of pandemonium for most drivers. One never knows when it’s right to obey the green traffic light or disobey the red light. One just has to follow what the other drivers are doing. This comes at a price; you either risk being pulled off the road by a corrupt traffic officer or else you bang another vehicle. I have not conceived as yet what the rule to follow at a roundabout is. I guess it’s that you block the traffic already circling as recklessly as you can, and they slam their brakes.
On one unofficial ride coming from Go-Down Theatre the other evening, the taxi-driver was honking and braking annoyingly and I asked him to desist. He looked at me as if I had just cursed his mother. I was coming from a meal of chapatti, ugali, githeri, nyama-choma and sukuma wiki. His repeated honking and braking was disturbing the already not-so-amusing digestion process in my stomach.
I ended up visiting the hospital that same night, the reason being the stomach was giving unfamiliar ringing tones. When I walked into the public hospital, a man on a bed glanced at me with horror in his eyes as if I had come to take a lung out of his chest. He was the same cab driver who had given me a ride that very evening. He had a bandage covering half his face and a sling on his left arm. I guess he had a fender-bender with another car.
The hospital was also crammed with victims of a building collapse the previous night. It is like they have earthquakes here all year around. Late last year and early this year, two six-storey buildings under construction collapsed, killing over 20 people and injuring many others. Property and vehicles were either destroyed or damaged heavily when walls tumbled down after heavy rains this January. This translates into millions of Kenya shillings in damage and loss. We aren’t talking of buildings in slums like Kibera or Mathare but up-market structures in high-income suburbs.
A recent report stated that over 65% of the buildings in Nairobi are death traps. With the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12, I fear for my life in most of the buildings around. If the earth were to quake in Kenya, (not that I wish for that) the similarly shoddily built apartments would cause much loss of life and damage to property.
Next time you visit Nairobi, check in to a decent place to avoid having the ‘quarterly’ earthquakes hit you. In addition, be cautious with the taxi or matatu drivers.
Yours faithfully,
Capulet B. Chakupeta
