Matatus are emerging as the weak link in the fight against Covid-19 after they were last week allowed to carry full capacity.
Most passengers are complaining that matatu crew are breaking Covid-19 rules by overloading and allowing maskless people to enter vehicles.
On Monday last week, Transport and Health ministries allowed the public service vehicle operators to resume carrying passengers at full capacity after signing an MoU with industry leaders on adherence to protocols put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The MoU listed wearing of face masks as one of the requirements for anyone boarding a matatu. The industry leaders also agreed to use cashless payment systems.
However, a good number of passengers have been boarding matatus without face masks while some conductors are only taking cash, throwing out those seeking to pay via mobile money.
One of the conductors told the Nation that they are not allowing cashless transactions because passengers were reversing payment after paying.
“We don’t know why our leaders agreed to sign for cashless payment yet they know very well the challenges we have had. It is the crew who suffer when passengers reverse transactions,” he said.
Mr Eric Nyaboke, a matatu operator, told the Nation that the sector has suffered since the virus struck last year and it is time to recover the lost money.
Going cashless
“Passengers are aware that we have the virus thus should be putting on their masks. If you cannot be responsible for your own life, why should I do it for you yet I am in business. I will not fail to carry a passenger because they do not have a mask,” Mr Nyaboke, who is a driver in Nairobi, said.
Mr Simon Kimutai, the Matatu Owners Association chairman, said that every operator should be held responsible for their misdeeds.
“Anybody who fails to adhere to the protocols should be punished. We have over 80,000 matatus in the country, most of them are adhering to the measures while a few rogue crew are spoiling our name. This is a matter of life and death, passengers should also not wait to be reminded to take care of their lives,” Mr Kimutai said.
On matters going cashless, Mr Kimutai said it is not practical unless a law is enacted to implement the order.
“We introduced the service since we wanted a solution but every bank wanted to have a way that they can generate money from us. We had over 18 service providers, who do you choose? ” he posed.
He said matatu owners also don’t want cashless payment since it is a direct way of stealing from them.
The situation is happening at a time the country is recording high number of cases and mortality due to Covid-19.
Hawking inside matatus
Yesterday, 2.3 million people had received their vaccines, with 773,061 of them being fully vaccinated, said the Health CS Mutahi Kagwe.
The highest proportion of fully vaccinated population was in Nairobi County at 8.20 per cent and the least was in Marsabit County 0.30 per cent.
Experts say the risk of transmission of Covid-19 depends on how crowded a matatu is, how far away passengers sit from each other and whether the occupants are wearing face masks.
“Social distancing and wearing of face masks is one way of beating the virus. If we are not putting on face masks and sitting in crowded matatus, then we are brewing another wave. Even when in matatus, ensure your mask is on,” said Prof Matilu Mwau, an infectious diseases expert and researcher at Kenya Medical Research Institute.
The MoU signed by 10 representatives of the matatu industry and officials from the Health, Transport and Interior ministries banned eating, drinking or smoking in vehicles and stresses wearing of face masks at all times inside matatus.
A spot check, however, revealed that hawking of sweets and face masks is still going on inside matatus of people and there are no announcements reminding people to put on face masks.
Passengers have to use hand sanitisers before boarding and have their temperature reading taken.
All the windows must be kept open to let in fresh air and to minimise air recirculation, the MoU further states. BY DAILY NATION