Working life

تغيير خيارات الرسومات المنخفضة | تغيير اللغة | القفز عن المحتوى إلى الملاحة

محتوى الصفحة: Home > مجلة النقل الدولي "Transport International" > Issue 12 July 2003 > Working life

ITF translations available: Deutsch, Français, Español, Svenska
Google free translation service: Français, Español, Svenska, Nederlands, Italiano, Português, العربية, 中国的, Polski, Русский, 日本語, 한국의, Български, فارسی , Norske - About these links

Driving for survival

By Ochieng' Ogodo

For Julius Gikonyo, 50, working in the public transport sector in Nairobi City is a source of livelihood and a means of service to the nation, which has its own advantages and disadvantages.

He has been in the job since 1987. After he left his previous position he tried to find a decent job, but was unsuccessful in a country where job opportunities have been diminishing each passing day for the past decade.

"It is common knowledge there are no real employment opportunities. The majority of people are now turning to informal work for a livelihood," he says.

He therefore decided to train as a driver of public service vehicles and join what is popularly called the matatu business. These are minibuses that ply various routes in the city transporting commuters from estates to the Central Business District and back, and to other destinations including the outskirts. There are about six thousand matatu minibuses plying more than 100 routes within Nairobi, in a business that has grown tremendously since it first appeared around 30 years ago.

The sector today employs about 12,000 people directly and about 10,000 others draw their livelihood from it indirectly. In a typical working day Gikonyo begins by waking up at 05:00. He bathes and takes breakfast before moving out of his house to where the minibus gets parked after work. After picking up the matatu, he checks the amount of petrol in the tank, as well as the engine oil and water. He then drives to the stage of Route 23 where there will also be other similar vehicles queuing in the morning waiting for their turn to pick up commuters.

Here there is a long queue and one has to wait depending on your position on arrival. Once the vehicle is full with commuters, he drives them to town where they are off-loaded quickly and a few others are picked up on his way back to the estate.

In the morning peak hours a lot of people move from the housing estates to various working stations and it's a big rush, with not enough public service vehicles to meet demand.

From the estate to town he makes up to five trips between 06:00 and 09:00. "This is rush hour and there is a lot of work to be done," he says. Between 09:00 and 16:00 things get more relaxed, with fewer people travelling, but this means a struggle to get work. "You have to reduce the amount you charge to commuters during off-peak as there are few passengers for very many vehicles," he says. You even have to beg commuters to board your vehicle.

Since a day is a long time in this business, another driver relieves him at midday. The driver will do several trips before handing the Nissan vehicle back to Gikonyo at 15:00 for the rest of the day, including another peak spell from 17:00 to 20:00 when people are travelling home. "It is tiresome work and one has to take a break or you break yourself," he says.

This work has its problems and challenges. It's a sector where people are hardly employed on a permanent basis. This means you do not, in the end, enjoy benefits accruing for those in permanent employment when they retire. Payment is on a daily basis. There is also harassment by the police which has led to the "volunteering" of bribes by drivers and touts for "protection".
Vehicle owners set targets for the amount of money they want by the close of the day. It is a struggle to meet the target and you may lose the job if you fail. Then there is stiff competition between the minibuses themselves and with other modes of transport like town buses, which charge lower fares than minibuses.

Peak hours, when the roads get congested and vehicles move at snail speed, can be exhausting and stressful for drivers. "This is the time when you have to know how to manoeuvre your way - if you obey the traffic rules you'll end up taking home nothing," says Gikonyo.

Control of routes by amorphous groupings is another of the challenges drivers face. In Nairobi there are various self-appointed route controllers who forcefully (and sometimes violently) charge drivers and tout a "route fee", which is illegal.

However there are compensations in the work, such as the chance to interact with people from all walks of life. "Being a matatu driver has its advantages and challenges but I nonetheless enjoy being one," says Gikonyo with a bright smile splitting his confident face.

Over the years there have been efforts to form a trade union to fight for the rights of matatu workers, but without much success. Currently there are small welfare organisations formed on the basis of the routes. There is also a national body, the Matatu Welfare Association, which offers a forum for negotiations between the drivers and matatu owners. But much needs to be done to improve the lot of the drivers, according to Gikonyo.

Ochieng' Ogodo is a journalist with the East African Standard daily newspaper, based in Nairobi.

الصفحة الرئيسية للأقسام:
Issue 12 July 2003

نسخة الرسومات الكاملة

إمكانية الدخول | مساعدة الموقع | خريطة الموقع

صحيفة الاتحاد الدولي لعمال النقل

ITF House, 49-60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DR | +44 20 7403 2733 | mail@itf.org.uk