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No. 00295 |
November 8 - 14, 2003 |
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Write to: The Editor, Arusha Times, P.O. Box 212, Arusha. E-mail: arushatimes@habari.co.tzmailbag1 Why should the society allow this kind of anarchy?Dear Editor Kudos to the writer of the letter to the editor, entitled "Do something about this noise pollution", which appeared in the 25th-31st October, 2003 edition of the Arusha Times. Glyn Lewis, I have in the past, like so many other civic minded people, voiced concern about this anarchy existing in Arusha. It is business as usual in our beloved "Noisy City in the Sun" or the so called "Geneva of Africa". Does anybody care or ours is just a voice in the wilderness that will run out of steam in due course. I am referring to the hawkers who sell recorded musical tapes on the streets, now very belligerently, playing their cassette tapes at unbearably high volume. The vehicles equipped with extraordinarily loud public address systems are still at it and the insensitivity of religious groups and houses of worship to the comfort, quiet, peace and health of the citizenry in general is blatantly obvious. Then there are the matatus or daladalas drivers and their public service vehicles, with utter disregard to traffic rules or road manners, blow their horns unnecessarily and continuously regardless of the fact that according to the Traffic Ordinance there is a spot fine for this offence (can you believe it that the latest addition to their vehicles are sirens!). They zoom in and out of traffic, overtake other vehicles on the wrong sides, stop and park wherever convenient to them, many belch thick smoke, the conductors (touts) hang out of the doors and the passengers, our fellow human beings, packed therein like in a can of sardines (even the sardines would object, I am sure!). No doubt they provide essential means of travel to the public at large but can they be termed as Public Service Vehicles? The majority of these vehicles even do not have emergency exists and a look inside some of them will show the disgraceful condition that they are in. Are they regularly inspected to prove that they are mechanically road worthy? Are they insured against accidents and injury or loss of life? Or one just buys a Road Safety Sticker for Shs.4,000 and lo and behold the so-called Public Service Vehicle is deemed to be road worthy for the next twelve months! The traffic cops in white are visible all over the place, in every corner of the ‘city’. They must, at a rough estimate, our number Commander Kombe’s khaki clad lads by 20 to 1, and looking on benignly while all this anarchy is taking place. An earnest plea to them and the members of the regulatory bodies to wake up and become "Movers and Shakers" and get some semblance of order in the chaotic situation prevailing in our one main road "Noisy City in the Sun". "A Long Time Resident"
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Last modified:
November 06, 2003. Webmaster: WDJMallya |
