Sometime this week, I boarded a taxi and happened to get a chatty driver. I didn’t mind it at all, and in fact enjoyed the various conversations we had. As almost always happens with strangers who find themselves in a confined space, the first topic that naturally came up was politics.
Politics is always the low hanging fruit in such situations because it affects us all and everyone has an opinion about governance, the people running the country, and the general state of the country. I mean, you cannot possibly discuss your marriage, in-laws or health with someone you just met…
And so after tearing apart what we thought was wrong (and right) with the country’s leadership, and forecasting the next General Election (to which we both hoped that peace would prevail), the conversation inevitably veered towards the state of the economy.
The man told me that he got into the cab hailing business in the early days, pointing out that the business was akin to striking gold back then. He even managed to build a modest three-bedroom home back in the village, he told me. But then things changed, and even though he still makes “something”, the something is a far, far cry from what he used to make those days.
“Many Kenyans are not doing well…” he concluded, telling me that he sees it every day - on the road and during casual interactions. He gave an example of the number of absent-minded people he comes across on a daily basis. Pedestrians oblivious of the car hurtling towards them because they are deep in thought, and more common, drivers depicting various forms of road rage, especially cutting off other motorists, endangering lives in the process. At this point I interjected and wondered whether such behaviour isn’t simply the long-running indiscipline we’ve been used to on our roads. But he insisted this was different, giving an example of a frightening experience he had at the beginning of the year. Apparently, he had been driving on the acceleration lane along the Eastern Bypass, but the driver behind him thought he wasn’t moving fast enough, and took to hooting incessantly.
When the irate driver finally managed to overtake him, he suddenly slowed down, forcing the taxi driver to brake hard. Each time he tried to move to the next lane to move away, the angry driver would block him off. This happened for a couple of meters, unwarranted behaviour that held other drivers hostage too. When he was satisfied he had made his point, he eventually sped off to attend to whatever emergency was beckoning.
“Wakenya wengi hawako sawa,” he concluded, adding that nowadays, he goes to great lengths to avoid having arguments with people. Those known to him, and strangers alike. There are many angry people, he says, and from what he has observed, the majority just require a small trigger to unravel.
You’d rather call him a coward, he declared, but he wasn’t going to get into a war of words with anyone, citing various stories he’s read or heard in the media of people killing or maiming one another in a fit of rage. His conclusion was that there is a lot of disgruntlement and mental health issues among Kenyans, and most of it is tied to the high cost of living, a lack of jobs and little to aspire to. Do you agree?
