The Lake City That You Would Rather Not Visit
Recently, I visited this town. On our return journey to Nairobi, we board a bus christened Safe Ride. Its appearance, condition, make, color and crew depict safety, but we later learn this is not the case.The time is approaching eight o"clock in the morning when the bus finally fills up. At eight, the journey starts. A few metres from the bus stand, as I later learn is the norm, the bus stops for security check. All passengers alight and form two queues, one for men and the other for women. After brief frisking by police officers, who surprisingly only use their bare hands, the bus is checked and the journey resumes.
Animated passengers open up to each other. While majority discuss the forthcoming constitutional referendum, others talk of the changing weather pattern while others talk of international conflicts and the behavior of some country to play prefects of the world.
Along the way, the bus stops at numerous road side trading centres to afford the passengers a chance to buy some of the stuffs being peddled by roadside sellers. Although the prices are highly inflated, there is not much of a choice, here the supplier is king.
The journey is scenic. It takes one through the plains, highlands and rift valley, at times viewing wildlife, all these without paying tourist fees.
There are road blocks on the way manned by several officers. Each time we near one, the bus is flanked down but it does not stop. It only slows down and the conductor peers through the window, then the bus gathers speed. After this exercise is repeated three times, I get curious to discover what goes on. At the next road block, I realized that the conductor was dropping some money for the officers to collect. That explained why it was slowing down but not stopping. The police, meant to check vehicles for conformity to traffic rules were acting more of tax collectors than safety agents. They had abdicated their duty.
The speed the bus was being driven at was scaring. Although having a speed governor at 80Kph, the bus was cruising at over 100Kph. Many passengers were not worried especially those who held the notion of better never than late. Passengers were alighting while others boarded all the way till our destination but no one cared to frisk them.
It was a journey filled with lots of risks. Careless driving and supposed dangerous passengers. If the police checks weren"t a formality, I believe better gadgets would be used to scan passengers. I would also expect no passengers be allowed to board the bus on the way if they aren"t scanned.
How would they make their extra income if not through additional passengers? or through driving dangerously fast to arrive early to arrive early and make many trips?
A journey to and from the lake city by bus, especially to Nairobi, is no fun unless one is a high risky taker or is compelled by unavoidable circumstances.
If you want to tell your own story, take a weekend ride to Kisumu, it will not be hear-say any more.