Matatu – the most representative symbol of Kenya’s transportation

Nairobi’s traffic jam is a nightmare.  If you get stuck, it’s better to accept your bad luck and lay back on your seat.  A 30-minute commuting suddenly changes into a 2-hour suffering.  The bad part of the traffic jam here is its unpredictability: no one knows which road is going to stop moving today at what time.  The worst time is the commuting hours in the morning (7-9am) and at night (6-8pm), but car horns fill streets almost all day.

One of the major causes for Nairobi’s heavy traffic is the lack of public transportation.  As there are no public buses or trains, many people commute with cars (TOYOTA is most popular).  Car ownership has increased dramatically in the past few years, and now households with more than 2 cars have become common in Nairobi.  But still, not all family members own a car, and there are quite a few households without any single car (According to the 2008-09 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, only 17% of the households in urban areas had a car.).  Thus Matatu, the most representative symbol of local transportation, becomes an essential part of life in Kenya.

Matatu is a privately owned bus, usually by high-ranking officials of the Kenya Police.  Owners lease vehicles to individuals, and individuals receive income based on the number of passengers they carried.  The payment system is designed in such a way that lessees have high incentives to increase passengers even by breaking the law.  For example, many Matatus stop at places other than bus stops.  Moreover, the fee is not stable, and drivers decide the price based on that day’s demand to maximize the profit.  The Matatu fee used to be stable when there was a public transportation.  However, as there is no longer any public transportation, drivers have higher bargaining power over the price than passengers.  Price increase on rainy days is a good example.

Although Matatu is owned by big men at the police most of the time, there is a huge conflict between police officers and Matatu drivers.  Officers stop and arrest quite a few drivers every day; for example, more than hundred Matatu drivers get arrested within an hour in the morning at an intersection near my office.  Drivers pay around Ksh 500-1000 (equivalent to earnings from 5-10 passengers) per arrest so that the police would let them go.  Of course Matatu drivers are to blame to some extent, as they do not follow traffic rules.  However, corruption of the police is a huge elephant in the room.  The money collected from Matatu drivers go directly into the pockets of police officers.  Frustration of Matatu drivers often culminates in strikes, just like yesterday (11^th July).

Matatu embodies Kenya’s social problems such as inequality, market failure, and corruption.  Those who use Matatu tend to be poor and socially marginalized, and the inequality is a critical problem in Kenya.  Market failure creates a huge negative externality (i.e. traffic jam and pollution), and government intervention may be necessary.  The police is said to be the most corrupt organization in Kenya, and people’s trust towards police officers is even lower than politicians.  Matatu – what an interesting thing to study.

Illicit Small Arms and Pre-/Post-Election Security in Kenya

Security concerns towards the upcoming election are now growing in Kenya, which lost more than 1,000 lives after the previous 2007-2008 election crisis.  The unsettled boundaries for electoral areas can cause the pre-election calamity in places where resource and tribal distribution may change depending on how the line were to be drawn.  Terrorist attacks have been aggravating the situation.  In the past three weeks, three terrorist attacks hit Kenya.  On June 24^th, a bar in Mombasa was attacked by grenades, killing three and sending more than thirty people to the hospital.  Seventeen were killed and nearly 70 were injured in the attacks last Sunday at two churches in Garissa, a small town close to the border with Somalia. 

According to the 2011 survey, election is the time when people feel most unsafe.  In fact, the 2007-2008 post-election mayhem killed 1,133 people (according to the report of the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence) and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.  Supporters of the current Prime Minister Odinga claimed manipulation, and they crashed against the current president Kibaki’s supporters.  The controversy developed into a tribal conflict, turning the Kenyan soil into a bloody battlefield. 

Such concerns have been feeding a steady demand for small arms.  According to the Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons (KNFP), the most conservative estimate of households with illicit arms is around 170,000-210,000, while it says that the number can increase up to 530,000-680,000.  As some households own more than two, the total number of illicit arms in Kenya is likely to be much higher.  These illicit arms are smuggled from neighboring countries both from the sea and the land.  Although the border control is high on Kenya’s agenda, the government may need to address not only the supply side but also the demand side because arms trafficking will continue as long as there is a demand.  Some reports show a decrease in people’s safety perception scores after disarmament, which reflects people’s reluctance to give up small arms as means of self-protection.  Ironically, possessing arms from security concerns often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Although no one can guarantee that the tragedy of the previous election will not be repeated, there is a ground of optimism.  The Kenyan government together with international partners has been trying to prepare against the worst-case scenario.  For example, police trainings, public awareness-raising campaigns, and arms registration have been taking place across the country.  If the Kenyan government can show that it can protect its citizens, the demand for small arms, which are encouraging arms trafficking, may decrease eventually.  The Kenyan government and its international partners need to keep a close eye on developments and to prepare themselves against any possible pre- and post- election security deterioration. 

HIV/AIDS in the Mukuru Slum

Health conditions in a densely populated slum are alarming.  A small outbreak will spread like a wild fire, and thus easily turn into an epidemic.  HIV/AIDS is one of such examples.  Although there is no statistics specific to the Mukuru slum, the HIV prevalence is estimated to be above 10 percent, which is much higher than the prevalence at the national level (6.8%) and in Nairobi (7.9%).  The major risk groups in the slum are sex workers, MSM (men who have sex with men), truck drivers, and IDUs (injecting drug users).

Many social factors are contributing to Mukuru’s high HIV prevalence.  A significant underlying factor is poverty.  Due to their low income level and high income volatility, many women (including widows and single mothers) provide sex for a meal.  Truck drivers who drive in and out of the industrial area where the Mukuru slum is located work in poor conditions and spend many days away from home, thus become tempted to have sex with commercial sex workers along the way.  Unprotected sex and injecting drug use spread the virus across the community, where the web of human interaction is dense.

The first step to treat the disease is to know HIV status.  The Kenyan government is aiming to test 80 percent of the whole population by 2013.  In Nairobi, you can find HIV testing centers in every corner.  People regard HIV testing as part of their health check-ups, and they are not afraid of being seen in a line in front of testing centers.  But this is not what it is in every part of Kenya.  There are some rural areas where stigma continues to rear its ugly face.  One health worker who works in a remote area told me that people ask her to call their mobiles so that they can visit the center when no one is around.  She added that they only use the back door. 

Although stigma against HIV/AIDS is now low in Mukuru, it is not a long time ago when people with HIV in Mukuru were afraid of isolation.  People misunderstood the disease, and the HIV positives were reluctant to disclose their status to their partners.  With counseling and awareness-raising campaigns, people in Mukuru started to correct their misconceptions about HIV/AIDS.  Importantly, those who are living with HIV started to share their stories with others.  Besty (she chose this nickname as it means “best friend”) is one of the HIV positives who have been courageously speaking about their own experience.  I asked her what made her decide to break the silence, which must have required a lot of courage and determination.  She told me that counseling helped her understand that HIV is treatable (although not curable). “And I gradually increased my confidence,” she said.

Stories shared by people like Besty have significant impact on people’s behaviors.  People become more confortable discussing HIV/AIDS in public, and more people visit testing centers.  People become more aware of the necessity of HIV prevention such as condom use.  A real example like Besty is more convincing than plain documents or statistics for people to take action, and interactive programs at community level will be effective.

[This piece is based on interviews with NGO workers, community workers, and dwellers during my visit to the Mukuru slum on June 30th.]