美国国家公共电台 NPR Kenyan Bus Driver Speaks Out Against Everyday Corruption On Live TV

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's no secret that corruption 1 is widespread in Kenya. But recently, the conversation about it got real when a bus driver confronted the police and the president with a story of bribery 2 on national television. NPR's Eyder Peralta brings us the story of a matutu (ph) driver whose bravery sparked a national discussion about something people don't usually like to talk about.

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE 3: John Macharia walks me around Nairobi's downtown. Proudly, he's showing me all of the matatus, the little and medium-sized buses that crisscross the city. They're colorful and essential, but Macharia says they're often targeted by police for the smallest infractions. He points out a guy hanging from the side of a matatu shouting for passengers in Swahili.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Speaking Swahili).

JOHN MACHARIA: See, by shouting this way, he's already committing an offense 4.

PERALTA: Oh.

MACHARIA: But he must do it to get passengers.

PERALTA: Macharia became a national figure last month when he spoke 5 up at a corruption forum 6 attended by President Uhuru Kenyatta. He said that he had to have $8 in his pocket every day to pay off police. And then, in front of the president and the police chief, he made a serious accusation 7.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MACHARIA: I believe the problem is that traffic policeman do not wake up to control traffic in Nairobi. They wake up in the morning to come and collect money from our buses - period.

(APPLAUSE)

PERALTA: The president remained silent, but the police chief Joseph Boinett shot back, joking or threatening that Macharia should be arrested.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOSEPH BOINETT: I wish I had time to arrest this guy because he has made several confessions 9.

(LAUGHTER)

BOINETT: He should be in some police station heading to court.

PERALTA: The episode wasn't shocking to Kenyans, says Mary Daraja, a news editor at the Kenya Broadcasting Company (ph). But it generated sympathy for Macharia because he exposed a practice many Kenyans are ashamed of.

MARY DARAJA: It was just a confession 8 being made by someone who believes that what he is doing is wrong, but he's doing it anyway. And maybe he was asking for help.

PERALTA: Macharia's story, says Daraja, made Kenyans look inward.

DARAJA: We, Kenyans, are also to blame because when we see a driver bribing 10 the police, we keep quiet. When we see a police officer committing crime, we keep quiet.

PERALTA: Macharia stayed off his route for two weeks. He was afraid that one of those cops would come after him. He thought about that before he spoke up. But the reality of corruption ate at him. He had seen drivers refuse to pay bribes 11 just to have police tow their vehicles. He himself had been to court every Monday for a year to fight a trumped 12 up ticket. Everyday police corruption may seem small, he says, but it can also ruin Kenya's future.

MACHARIA: I pity our children when they go to school, and they see somebody taking money. What that child will grow knowing that you can buy freedom using money.

PERALTA: Macharia did get behind the wheel of his matatu, and police have so far let him be.

MACHARIA: But there are others out there suffering. Maybe I'm lucky because I was bold enough to be there and say it. But there is a - they're suffering a lot. They're suffering.

PERALTA: The Independent Policing Oversight 13 Authority did look into Macharia's complaints. They told me that they found his stories believable, and they've referred his case to the courts. But since the independent watchdog was set up in 2012, the courts have reached verdicts in only two of their cases. Eyder Peralta, NPR News, Nairobi.