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New 'daladala' security scheme needs revising
2005-07-07 09:30:38
By Editor
Just as the dust begins to settle following the doctors’ strike, another saga is being played out in Dar es Salaam, this time involving daladala operators and the Dar es Salaam City Council.
As was the case with the doctors’ strike, the current issue seems to have been clumsily handled by people in authority.
The result is that people who have nothing to do with the tug-of-war are the ones who are likely to be caught in the crossfire.
The standoff was sparked off by city authorities’ apparently unilateral decision to hire a private security firm to collect levy from daladalas at the city’s main commuter bus terminals.
We doubt whether other stakeholders such as daladala owners, drivers and conductors were involved in the process that led to the imposition of the levy and the subsequent appointment of the security company to collect the fees on the city council’s behalf.
We are saying this because daladala owners, drivers and conductors have come out in force to oppose the new scheme launched last month by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs John Chiligati.
The Dar es Salaam Bus Owners Association (Darboa) has yet to publicly respond to the decision ostensibly aimed at improving security at bus terminals in the city, but the Union of Dar es Salaam Daladala Drivers and Conductors (Uwamada) said earlier this week that it was against the newly introduced system because it did not know where all the money collected would be going and how its members would benefit.
Taking into consideration the sums involved, it is not difficult to see that Uwamada has a point.
We understand that there are at least 5,000 registered daladalas in Dar es Salaam and this means that millions of shillings could be collected each day.
Can all this money be accounted for?
Not surprisingly, Uwamada has asked the city council to suspend the programme pending a meeting involving all stakeholders.
It is worth noting that the city council has been uncharacteristically mute on the whole issue.
We would have expected them to come out in the open and state exactly how the new system would work and how all stakeholders would benefit.
We understand that the plan is aimed at making bus terminals ’safer’ with the contracted company collecting the levy in return for providing security at the sites, but it is not as simple as it sounds.
It seems that whoever suggested the plan did not do their homework.
While it is easy to collect cash from every daladala that enters a terminal, it is well-nigh impossible to ensure that all people using the station are completely safe from pickpockets, thieves, muggers and other criminals and security threats they are supposed to be protected from.
One would have to be pretty naive to believe that a couple of security guards armed with nothing more than truncheons can provide adequate security at a place such as the sprawling Mwenge daladala terminal which teems with humanity for the greater part of the day.
The new system also involves the removal of touts from terminals and bus stops on the grounds that they harass commuters and steal from them.
Touts are also widely viewed as nothing more than extortionists who get paid for doing absolutely nothing.
While we agree that touts can be very irritating as anybody who has travelled in a daladala can attest, care should be taken in the way they are handled.
Most of them are desperate youths who can swiftly transform themselves into vicious knife-wielding thugs after being denied the opportunity to make a living the best way they know how.
What Dar es Salaam residents need are workable plans to improve public transport for the benefit of all stakeholders in the city.
It does not help if one side feels short-changed or ripped off even if the changes are genuinely geared towards making life easier for all those involved in the public transport sector in Dar es Salaam.
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