Bus owners urged to give drivers permanent terms

By Malela Kassim

Bus owners have been urged to employ drivers on permanent terms and institute proper supervision of their operations to help minimise accidents.
The call was made during a roundtable meeting coordinated by Legal Assistance to Victims of Accidents (LAVA) in Dar es Salaam recently.

Notker Kilewa, a vehicle inspector from the Traffic Police headquarters in Dar es Salaam said through investigations the force has established that the lack of permanent contract for drivers has cut the significant bond between them and the vessels.

“Most drivers are paid as per trip a sum ranging between 60,000/- and 100,000/- depending on the distance covered. In the circumstances, the drivers are not sure of their fate come tomorrow in the same vessel as they have no job security. This also affects their competence while driving,’’ he said.

According to him, the survey has revealed that bus owners have been taking advantage of the big number of jobless drivers at bus terminals, especially the Ubungo Bus Terminal, as a weapon to threaten their drivers.

The situation has made it difficult for the drivers to demand for employment contracts knowing that their posts could be filled at any time by the owners, he said.

“We have also established that most owners of passenger vessels do not bother to conduct road patrols to see for themselves how their vessels are operated.
Most are busy with other businesses knowing that the buses will always bring in money … But the vessels are overloaded and many of their drivers sometimes drive while drunk,’’ he said.

Inspector Kilewa said through the survey, the police force noticed that a number of drivers drive while they are drunk and whenever they
approach inspection barriers, they avoid the alcohol tests by replacing drunk drivers with sober ones.

Reacting to the police investigation, Tanzania Bus Owners Association (Taboa) executive secretary Elimboto Mtatuu said their lobby has failed to compel bus owners to employ bus crews on contract basis simply because not all bus owners are members of the body.

“Taboa is a voluntary organisation, hence not all bus owners are members of Taboa. This makes it difficult for us to force every bus owner to engage their drivers on permanent terms. That is why you see that some of the drivers have got emp