Malawi govt refuses to ban small passenger public vehicles: Bongo and Vanetta
Government has flatly refused to ban small passenger public vehicles of bongo and vanetta types, saying this will cause more problems than solving them.
Minister of Transport Malison Ndau said this on Saturday a week after the parliamentary committee on Transport recommended to the government to ban the minibuses, saying they were designed to carry goods not people.
However, Ndau said banning the use of the bongo and vanette minibuses is not the lasting solution to the problem.
“If we do that, we are going to raise more eyebrows and problems. What we will do is to ask the traffic police to enforce the seating capacity rule and policy,” he said.
He said as government, they cannot just wake up and ban the vehicles out of emotions.
“You cannot just wake up and ban the minibuses overnight. There are people who depend on such minibuses for their everyday life,” he said.
Chairman of the parliamentary committee on Transport Victor Mbewe said the small minibus operators pack passengers like Sardines, four in each line of chair, saying this reduces their dignity.
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ndikanakonda abizinezi za mtundu umenewu akanasata dongosolo limene amachita azawo ku Theba,mpano zimenezi zisakuchitika.Komaso okonza basiyo anapanga kuti line imozi izikhala a2 atatu,ndiye ikafika ku Malawi kuno timaonjezeraso mpando umozi.Kulakwitsa uko!Minisitala kumeneko ndiye timati kuthimka!
Road Traffic and safety services, what are you doing in Karonga, Mzuzu ,Nkhotakota and Salima road?
Wise minister, indeed ban them its absolutely not a solution. Thanks Ndau.
Sometimes its gud 2give this brain sometime 2think before bringing the ideas 2the living world. In a country which z failing 2create jobs, but thinking of banning some minibuses which many r surviving thru, if t was an equation t could b unbalanced. Bravo 2the wise minister!
Overloading is outlawed kalekale. If you allow to be packed like sardine its your polobulemu, usova
Abwana minister kumeko ndiye kukhala,A chair transport committee asove zina osati zimene akunene zi.Iwowo ali ni ndalama azipanga ma business ena monga a mining ndi zina zotere,za ma Bongo asiyire anthu osawuka.if they are to empower Malawians economically.
Thumb up for this idea. We have a government that is not just hasting. Some of us would have been heavily affected considering the fact that we’ve just purchased them and doing so would be a major blow. We can just upholding the seater rule.
However,government on its part should also consider trimming the fuel prices as the minibus owners might resolute to increasing the price of bus fares since they would want that to tally with the incurred costs.
Nonse omwe mukufuna kuti ma bongo ndi vannette aletsedwe ndinu zitsiru mukuganiza kuti anthu ali ndi ma mini bus wa azikakudyelani kuti? Nosense
All vehicles looking like minibus are cleared as minibus by MRA even though we import them from Japan classified as vans. We buy the Vanette and Bongo bcoz they are affordable compared to the Hiace or the Quantum. The problem is the drivers and conductors who use wrong capacity to make more money. Passengers choose to accept the inconveniences. No choice. Its like the women and men who transport tomatoes on top of trucks and pickups, that’s their right kind of transport. the tomatoes will become expensive once someone decides to change their mode of transportation. No option.
During the 1980’s Malawi public transport was basically Large Buses only. Ai one count, United Transport had 360 buses, Yanu-Yanu had 40 buses and there were a lot more providng scheduled services to all parts of Malawi. Sometime during the 1990’s the rules were relaxed and the Mini-bus (30 Seaters) was allowed to provide public transport. Then the 16 Seater came in to disrupt everything, more especially it killed the scheduled services we all loved, now it (WAIT UNTIL FULL). This trend also got worse with the Minor Bus, (Bongo and its cousins). Now, we have the 3 Wheeler taxi.… Read more »