The Overlap and other stories from Kenya

We all know them those people who think they're geniuses on the road... Then again don't we all. Words which I heard a long time ago and have never left my mind is 'everybody no matter who they are considers themselves an above average driver' - me included! :) Anyway I'm not here to blow my own trumpet about how I epitomize sane and courteous driving I've discovered that on Kenyan roads you have to have a bit of bite lest you're pushed around we've heard of defensive driving here it's more like attacking driving! Naturally the biggest culprits of tomfoolery and all kinds of roguish behaviour on the roads are the infamous matatu crewa and for those who've been around Mt. Kenya my miraa carrying Mbrathas (sic)

Before I sart digressing too much let me get to the main point of this post- this phenomenon known as 'overlapping'. I read some guys on twitter complain how it has become such a common occurence nowadays, the norm rather than the exception as opposed to a few years back when it was vice versa. I'd tend to agree with that, it;s really annoing and has taken some new dimensions. Nowadays even when you wait for a car in front of you turn at a junction it's become pretty much normal for other cars to overtake you on the other side. A few years ago I never used to see this, Matatu culture has really crept into our everyday life. Just yesterday somebody had the audacity to hoot at me as I waited for the car in front to turn as he was on the 'overlap'. Today again a matatu guy was overlapping me and that really ticked me off didn't even let him have a chance to get back into the road. You may say that's extreme but seriously sometimes you just have to stand up to these clowns hence my previous assertion about having some bite.








In my humble opinion the road- that thing with bitumen and markings is where cars should be! I guess that's pretty much common sense unless you bought your driving licence! the shoulders- hard, soft, whatever they may be are not for cars, neither are sidewalks! those are are for pedestrians, cyclists, farm animals, martians and whatever else not for you to use in your imaptience- I wonder if we are in such a hurry on the roads why are we late most of the times. So next time you feel tempted to use the side of the road please consider the rest of us insane people who are kind to our cars suspensions and stick to the road! Sometimes I wish I could just get a sack of nails an pour them on the side of the road!

Silly antics are not confined to the above phenomenon. Another silly and in my opinion totally pointless habit is hooting when the lights go green. Pointless because anybody behind the wheel of a car knows what a green light means and so what are you warning them about with your horn? Sorry unlike you our cars don't have instant acceleration from a complete stop.

Now on to my pet peeve. The most basic rule of all which everybody is taught in driving school- What is the rule of the road in Kenya? keep left! Now now if I had a shilling for every time I met a fully laden track hobbling down the right lane of a dual carriageway at 30 km/h showing no signs of turning right at the next exit... Same holds for slow drivers on the inside lane. Our good friends at the automobile association have done us the good favour of putting up signs to remind us of this. So no snide comments or rants this time, just a simple request- I beg, I beg oh! Please, please, please, unless you're overtaking or turning right at the next junction keep left- will go along way in aiding smooth traffic flow on the dual carriageway.

Driving does not require you to be a genius, just a little courtesy and consideration will go a long way and if you want to get there on time so does everybody else, you're not more special! So next time you get the urge to join the cattle on the side of the road- don't.

If you see any bad driving don't hesitate to post it at www.overlap.co.ke


Now what are your pet peeves on the road?

I met God

It was a Sunday morning like any other
Got myself out of home and to church
where I was to meet my God

I sung great songs
lifted my hands in the air seeking his presence
I prayed fervently, I heard the word
soon it was time to for me to go back home

Little did I know He would be out there
waiting for me
Not quite what I expected you know

Was about five feet tall
Kind of shaggy looking fellow

His clothes not the latest fashions

He stood there as the masses passed
hand stretched out
Asking 'ninunulie chakula' *

And that is how I met God
on a Sunday that I thought was like any other
Matthew 25:40...

* kiswahili for 'buy me food'

Waiting for the Palace

The other day flipping through the channels I heard one of those preachers on tv exhorting his congregation not to wait for the palace to serve God, you can do it even when you're in the pit. That analogy was clearly from the story of Joseph in Genesis. They sold him to slavery in Egypt but he was still faithful to his master, they threw him in prison but he became the 'chief prisoner' or so to speak. Wherever he was he didn't let circumstances determine his attitude to service and devotion to God. So I king of got what the pastor was talking about though I listened only a couple of seconds.

Thinking about it made me realise that sometimes in life when things aren't so rosy we're like I'll do this and this when I get the money, or when I get that big job but we tend to forget that when we are faithful with the little we'll be entrusted with much- Luke 16:10. Really hits homw for me coz right now I'm at a stage in my life where I feel I'm limited in what I can do but when I think about it I've got the greatest resource of them all- time and that's priceless. So as I work towards getting to the palace I can do something in the pit to bless those around me! At the same time there's no need to despise the day of small beginnings Zech 4:10

Barikiweni

The Story

We all have a story to tell
Who are you?
Where are you coming from?
Where you at ?
Where are you going?
Could think of thousands of questions to ask

What I see now is a work in progress
The creator made you gave you to those two who cared for you
Gave many more who came along the way
Many have been your day
Some tears, some laugh
Some ups some downs

With each passing minute the Good Lord gives it continues to unfold
Everyday a new page is written in the book
See a good story is enjoyed slowly
Page by page letter by letter
Some chapters move fast, some slow but I still would like to read
This story called your life

There is another story I know all to well
Ready to tell if you treat me well
I have a tale that may not sound oh so swell
but it will all come together if you choose to dwell

There is yet another story
For which pen is yet to meet paper
This ones different as it'll take two to tell

So now as I stand here looking and asking
What's your story?
Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine
Then hand in hand we will set out to write ours
And when the Good Lord sees fit he'll put the final dot
On that  final page

Does it work?

There's been a lot happening on the transport scene in Kenya in the last few weeks. Quite a number of pronouncements from the transport minister Amos Kimunya on the way forward for the public transport sector. At the same time the Nairobi town jerk clerk decided to make motorist fork out more for the 'first class' parking facilities in our city and then giving analogies of Whisky and Busaa... Anyway I'm not here to discuss drinks but one of my pet topics- the traffic jams in Nairobi in which I've spent many an hour.

The government and authorities can be given credit for realising that we do have a problem here whether it is to 'restore sanity'- was it there in the first place or to reduce congestion. I'm no urban planning genius but I ask the question will it work? They've tried other methods before like doubling parking fees a few years back and we still have the same issues. Another effort which in my opinion failed in it's set objectives is the 'Michuki rules' which were introduced  in 2004 and have ended up being watered down, especially in 2007 as a campaign gimick. Now let me use my ignorance to poke holes in that initiative.

Now about that sanity, there's a this habit that is simply annoying and the biggest culprits are matatus- 'overlapping'. I tell you the number of times I've felt like I can just spill a sack of nails on the roadside to stop them Now that's insanity right there like the rest of us who are keeping our cars on the road are mad you decide to use the outside of the road. Nowadays even when you're waiting to turn at a junction some guy will overlap you- insanity I tell you!

When bwana Michuki set out to whip the matatu boys into shape we were all applauding. We'd finally get good, clean and efficient public transportation. Gone would be the days of miraa chewing, scruffy looking youths hanging on the doors of vehicles blasting music at deafening volumes while terrorizing the other road users. That would be replaced with nice polite service with clean uniforms and name tags... so much for that! Lasted a few months and if there's one thing that was achieved then it was ridiculous queues at the Motor Vehicle department as the matatu crews struggled to comply.

Once again in my humble opinion, the most important regulation was that of speed governors, seat belts in my opinion have no place in buses which are operating in the CBD. I believe that these regulations led to the 'matatu-ization' of public transport in Nairobi at least. Let me take you back a few years to when KBS was Kenya Bus Services not the glorified matatus of today. Back then they served all major routes in the city and you'd be assured of getting to where you wanted to go in good time as they were regular. Another thing is that they had standing passengers- a minor inconvenience if you were going a short distance but woe unto you if you had to stand all the way from Nairobi to Ngong like it so often happened. The service was affordable and did the job well enough but that one company was clearly not able to handle all the passengers and they got overloaded most of the times. Oh and standing passengers means more capacity per vehicle hence less traffic on the road but I think only proper buses should be allowed to carry standing passengers not Matatus.

That was then fast forward to now. Standing at the Kencom stage you realise that these buses be it City Hoppa, Shuttle, KBS, Double M etc are behaving like big matatus, soliciting for passengers as they cause a long traffic hold-up along Moi Avenue. What's more they don't even serve all the city routes just the short ones that have been deemed profitable to them. There's no standardization or timetable so that you can tell when the next bus is coming. In my opinion all this sprung up from the Michuki rules which in essence were good but they were never reviewed so as to make the system more effective and efficient to the 'common mwananchi' (that famous cliche)

So looking at it critically have the Michuki rules really worked as well as we'd expected. I'd say no! it's made public transport more expensive and less convenient for many though progress may have been made in the area of comfort. However I believe that change is inevitable and however good a policy may look at first it may need to be tweaked later.

Clearly our policy makers have their work cut out for them! I'm wondering if this isn't one of the reasons we have a Nairobi Metropolitan ministry. Nairobi residents need a good transport SERVICE. Emphasis on service as right now it's pretty much a dog eat dog world of profiteering matatu operators whereas what is needed is (cliche alert) public private partnerships that will deliver value to the customers at minimum cost. May I say that the local authorities should also subsidize the system if they are to justify milking more money from us- no taxation without service delivery! Therefore I laud the latest effort of having Matatus run by Saccos and companies- that would be a good way to pool resources so that they can acquire high capacity vehicles. I think we may have to move back to move forward by re-introducing the buses that could carry up to 90 passengers. That way we'd reduce the number of vehicles by a factor of at least 6 considering 14 seaters.

That's just one suggestion I'm sure that with greater consultations better solutions to our problems can be found. We are already wasting too many man hours in traffic. The new highways may help but only if we use them effectively and efficiently!

Another aspect of our transport system which I believe hasn't been used to the maximum is bicycles. A large portion of the City is pretty much flat i.e Eastlands and building cyclist lanes on those roads will provide a cheaper and more environmentally friendly means of transport.

Just a few thoughts but I believe that if we put our heads together we can come up with lasting solutions. Additions, subtractions and criticisms are welcome

Brown Envelope...

Those of you who live in Nairobi have heard of 'jobless corner' that area outside the Hilton where you may find frustrated Kenyans some young. some old holding brown envelopes looking all beat with dusty shoes. I once was in that category 'consultants' who were freelancing. Was a few years back just after I'd left campus and it's so easy to forget that dry period once you get settled in the working world. That I did after finally making it to the land of milk and honey after roaming in the desert for a while.

It truly is a time of ups and downs, false hopes, trails that lead to nowhere, some that lead somewhere but it is so gratifying when you find that all elusive jobs. Who likes receiving those all too common regret letters- usually from your dream employer who you may have been praying, even fasting for. Attending interviews some promising, some total train wrecks as you are out of your depth because they're clearly expecting a more experienced person. There are also those that may have even gone smoothly but you never heard back again from the prospective employer!

Graduates usually come into the working world with great expectations and their dream career mapped out in their heads and after a few months you realise what a jungle it is out there. You may have been thinking what a superstar like me with an honours degree? they'll be jumping over each other to snap me up! They are of course th fortunate few who like step out of campus into work and even have to take leave for graduation then they are those who stay for  months even years before getting a job. You really can't predict what will happen next. Then as usual there's those adverts that ask for somebody with x years of experience and you wonder what to do with 0 years! Crazy time it is and the Kenyan job market is pretty much an employers' market and many find themselves snapping up the first thing that comes along.

Inevitably frustration may creep in when you find yourself still hanging there months later, maybe you do an internship or something like that for little or no pay but all of us want that big pay slip at the end of the month. What a relief it is when the waiting finally ends and you get called for that interview and what can measure to the joy of hearing that you've actually been hired for the job? Before then you have to survive on hope and prayer as it's a season that is temporary not permanent.

Well all this hits pretty close to home for me, not the first time as a 'consultant' but have the unenviable title of being between jobs. Experience is a bit more intense as I know what it is like to have an income and so have even greater motivation and sometimes frustration esp when I know I gave something up for what I expected would be better. Of all the virtues we aspire to have patience is the hardest one to cultivate- somebody once said it carries a lot of wait but I know in the end I'll emerge stronger. as for now it's waiting praying and walking around with those brown envelopes!

One of them!

All Kikuyus like money!

All Luos are proud

All Merus are bad tempered

Guess you've heard them all before

All men are dogs

All women want is money

You can't trust men

Maybe you've heard that too

It may be true that some are

It is also true that some are not

But how will you know

Without a chance given?

See all men have their flaws

Women too are not left behind

Life may deal have dealt you a bad hand

There is yet a different tomorrow

Just because the other did it

needn't mean the next one will

Lest you end up giving the label

He is just one of them!