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.