For years now, miraa pick-up drivers have been considered a menace on Kenyan roads but as it turns out, they argue that the practice is necessary to preserve their harvest.
While appearing on The Wicked Edition on Thursday, May 20, two Miraa drivers, Isaac Kuria and Justus Munene, noted that the crop was highly perishable hence the speeding is necessary to get it to the destination in under two hours.
To become a seasoned driver for one of the companies, however, is not easy for a common Kenyan since it tests for a person's endurance.
"Normal vehicles cause a lot of accidents more than those of Miraa. There is a lot of chaos in other vehicles than in Miraa world. For us, it is focus on the job.
"This is like a society. I have all contacts of all Miraa drivers. It would take a year (for training). We shall train you for one year because you need to know manual system," stated Kuria.
He further added that in the course of the training, the newbie would be taken through a number of speeding laps to see if he can stomach the fast life they are required to put up with on a daily basis.
He also noted that the drivers are trained on how to maintain a specified speed level ranging between 100Km/h and 120km/h.
"We get you into a speeding car and allow you to return home to weigh whether you want to continue," added Kuria confirming that in his own training, he quit once but the employer urged him to return.
Corroborating Kuria's story, Munene noted that the new recruits are allowed to take a break to way the risky nature of the job.
"People join, they make a few trips and are like, 'Eeehhh, this is a different kind of life. You can lose your life here.'" stated Munene who confirmed that he had never ran late with a product.
The two also noted that the speeding was necessary to capture the moisture resulting from the breeze generated by the speeding vehicle.
They also noted that if the product run late by a few hours, or even minutes, it would be rendered useless and thrown away.
Meru Assembly Majority leader Victor Karithi Mutuma had in December 2020 raised concern regarding speeding Miraa drivers who had increasingly caused road accidents, mostly hit and run.
He argued that the journey from Meru to Nairobi takes nearly 4 hours but the drivers spend less than 2 hours risking people's lives.
