By Samson Osero

Pato had just arrived in his office at 6:30 am when Joan Mutule who is a driver in his department abruptly entered his office without knocking the open door.

Not so amused, he invited her to sit down on one of the chairs next to his desk, and to break the ice Pato said: “Today you are an early bird like me. How can I assist you?”

Wearing a long stern face, Joan started talking: “I was scheduled to collect luggage from the airport today at 5 am. On the way, from my house in Jitegemee Urban Settlement, I was mugged.

They snatched my only phone and Sh500.” Empathising with her ordeal, Pato asked: “Did you report the matter to your nearest Police Station?” While she was thankful that they did not hurt her, she was afraid that she could be mugged again.

“On days when we begin work very early in the morning, you should consider providing us with transport from our doorsteps,” she quipped, but Pato noted that it would be challenging to pick up drivers from their houses in various urban settlement areas.

No sooner had Joan left than another driver, Watson Aburi, arrived. Watson narrated how a group of seven thugs had manhandled him the previous night on his way home after delivering the last luggage at 9 pm. He said he had suffered minor injuries on his hands.

To spare his life, he parted with three thousand shillings. Watson told Pato: “As a reputable company, Trulogic needs to mind the safety and security of its drivers after they finish work late. Otherwise, with the current economic hardships drivers will be easy targets particularly in low-income urban settlements.”

Pato picked up his landline phone and called Gilbert Mangoro, the Security Manager and asked whether it is possible to provide security to drivers when they leave our premises late at night. Security arrangements “Our current security arrangements are restricted to Trulogic Plaza.

Escorting drivers to their home would be a tall order,” was the short response. So Watson left Pato’s office knowing that beyond the gates of Trulogic, “everyone carries his or her own cross praying that God protects all employees.”

However, cases of drivers being assaulted when either reporting to work very early in the morning or leaving late in the evening surged. Pato decided to confront Ben and demand him to include staff transport as an agenda item in the next management meeting.

When Pato tabled the matter, Harry Katumba, the Finance Manager, said: “So far we have staff transport vans for employees in administration. To extend the arrangement to cater for drivers who reside in different urban settlements would not be practical.

Neither would it be cost effective.” This did touched a raw nerve and Pato, whose anger was welling up, reminded the other managers that drivers were a core human resource to Trulogic’s transport and logistics business. “Without drivers, the administration staff who are being treated with kid gloves shall not be paid their salaries,” he retorted.

This made Benjamin Nesoke, the Administration Manager, move a motion. “It is time Trulogic built staff quarters to accommodate its many drivers. It will then be easy to ferry early rising drivers and late returning ones,” he said.

Looking at the sombre expression on Ben’s face, nobody dared to check with him whether he can approve such a project. It was then that Pato said: “Some solutions are long-term in nature. Let’s share immediate and short-term solutions.”

One of the managers suggested that Lillian Kurai, the Learning and Development Manager, be allocated a supplementary budget to train drivers on personal defensive skills like Karate. Managers laughed off the idea because present-day thugs are armed with dangerous weapons saying that self-defense would be fatal.

For victims to survive attacks, they should surrender as the first and only option. Noting that little progress was being made on generating solutions, Phyllice Nsao, the HR Manager, said: “Our patriarchal and matriarchal approaches to problem solving will not give us solutions.

Let’s ask Pato to engage with the drivers for possible ways of ensuring their security to and from work. Meeting drivers Pato met with over 20 drivers most of whom were residing in dangerous urban settlements and one of the drivers suggested: “Is it asking for too much if Trulogic is asked to foot our Uber Boda fares on the days we work outside normal hours.” Her fellow drivers applauded because such a provision would enable them to save on the day’s fares.

“The issue here is not insecurity. Trulogic does not pay us a house allowance. If we receive the allowance, some of us shall move from urban settlements to better housing with adequate security in the neighbourhood,” another one noted, as other drivers applauded loudly that Pato was unable to control them. Although the idea was good, Pato knew that selling it to Ben was not easy.

A veteran driver who had been keeping quiet raised his hand and said: “Allow us to take company vehicles to our houses whenever we are late at work. In case of early deliveries, we can park the vehicles overnight at our residences or nearby secure public parking spaces, like petrol stations.” A few drivers whistled at the proposal because they lived in spaces that did not have parking space.

The vehicles would be exposed to the risk of being stolen or have parts pulled out for resale. Pato chipped in: “Some of you will use the opportunity to misuse the vehicle for carrying passengers and luggages throughout the night.”

“Trulogic can accommodate drivers with early or late work schedules in nearby lodgings,” quipped another serious looking type. Pato mulled the idea and considered it an extra cost that would increase his department’s operational budget.

Instead, he suggested that drivers should seek secure close accommodation with their relatives or friends on days in question. Armed with possible solutions to solve the drivers’ security concerns, Pato was anxiously waiting to table the same in the afternoon management meeting.

Unfortunately, managers were informed that Ben had abruptly postponed the meeting and was accompanying his paternal uncle who had been summoned to record a statement on undisclosed allegations.

The writer is HRD Consultant and Author of Transition into Retirement, samsonosero@ gmail.com