Minibus owners meet over ban of Bongo, Vanetts vans
Minibus owners are to meet this week to chat the way forward following the decision by government to ban mini vans Nissan Vanette and Mazda Bongo which pack passengers like saldines.
Minibus Owners Association of Malawi (Moam) Coxley Kamange said the owners would be meeting to brain stop on what to do next if the government moves in to ban the small minibuses.
The Road Traffic director said the government was concerned with the vehicles carrying people saying they were manufactured to carry goods.
This was after the Parliamentary Committee on Transport asked the road traffic directorate if it was aware that the vehicles pack people four on each line of chair and conductors could be rude if one or two of the people are fat.
The Parliamentary Committee on Transport chairman Victor Mbewe asked the government to ban the vanets or bongo as minibus operators force desperate passengers to sit four on each line of chair instead of three.
Moam also wants government to consider reducing tax on motor vehicle tyres as well as extending the tax waiver imposed on new and used motor vehicles not exceeding eight years to 10 years.
Kamange appealed to Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe to consider extending the duty waiver to enable indigenous Malawians to bring in more minibuses so that they can phase out the mini vans, such as Nissan Vanette and Mazda Bongo.
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Kadulitseni akhale ma half tone basi muzikanyamula gado ndi mbatata basi
Ma bus 6 a cash gate ayambe kuyenda kumene kukuyenda tu maminbus kuti anthu asabvutike. Kuchoka apo Boma liganizire kutenga loan ku China kuti ligulire ma basi ena kuti zikhale mmene zinaliri nthawi ya Ngwazi Dr. H. Kamuzu Banda. Anthu sitimabvutika kuyenda ndi kuzazana mu basi.
This would certainly be a very welcome idea. Go to Rumphi and see how minibuses to and from Hewe 65kms west of Rumphi Boma pack passengers. From Rumphi it is four passengers on all the seats. From Bolero to Hewe the front seat accommodates another passenger to make three and the fourth is the driver who sits sideways while driving. The worst thing is that desperate passengers even sit on the roof of the minibus. In total a vanette/bongo minibus has well over 25 people on the bad and potholed road. This is really dangerous on the part of passengers.
If passengers were to be sitting three on each chair, the discomfort issue would not arise. However, because the police have failed to enforce that law by demanding bribes all the time when a minibus exceeds capacity. Minibus drivers and/or owners have also continued to “pack” four passengers per seat! Wake up you government, most of Malawi’s troubles stem from the spirit of corruption aka cashgate
I hope there has been careful consideration on whether the current provision of commuter services satifies demand for the service. If not, properly planned tax waivers would be a solution
Mwaona kuti ine ndaitanitsa 12. Ndiye mukuletsa. Ndiye mukuti nditani nazo?
Achita bwino. ma conductor amachita mwano kwambiri nkumati folo folo kwinaku akunukha kukhwapa. This has been the brainchild of UDF led government in 1994. Achoke achoke!
Does the Malawi government have any model for public transport? All we see is chaos on the roads. No proper bus stops in town, etc. And one question that the government has to respond is ‘why do we have so many accidents on the roads and so much failure in enforcing rules on the roads when there are so many traffics officers everyday on the roads?’. The Malawi Police, especially traffic police are the root cause of all the mediocrity in Malawi
The government should put a period like 3 years ,,,after that period ma vanette isazapezekenso pa mseu kunyamula anthu ,,, komanso aike lamulo loti vanette yanyuwani yogulidwa after the Ban isamatheke road payment…. izi zithandiza anthu omwe ali ndi ma vanette kupanga plan komanso iwo amene akugwira ntchito ngati ma Driver ma galimoto amenewa
The problem here its not minbus owners but the traffic police who have failed to enforce the law and resort to receiving bribes from minbus drivers. If anything the law must be enforced not banning minbuses.