The coming in of motorcycles as an extra and alternative mode of transporting people and goods from one destination to the other, locally known as “kabanza”, has helped to ease the economic woes people, especially youths, are facing in Bangwe township, Blantyre, Malawi.
Innocent Mpomba, one of the “kabanza” operators said that, despite him not being the owner of the motorcycle he was driving, he is now able to provide basic needs to his family through the wage he earn at the end of the month.
However, Mpomba cried foul on the rise of fuel prices since it is negatively affecting their operations as customers are reluctant to pay extra fee on top of what they were paying before the fuel hike. He urged the authorities to consider small scale businesses when making such decisions like hiking fuel.
Meanwhile, Secret Sydney argued that indeed “kabanza” has helped in solving people’s problems but it is associated with unnecessary accidents. She said her husband nearly lost his job due to injuries he sustained from a “kabanza” accident in which he ended up being hospitalized for a period of two months. She then called upon the authorities to build the capacity of these “kabanza” drivers on defensive driving and safety measures on the road.
