TEN WAYS NAIROBIANS PLAN TO BEAT 'OBAMA JAM'

 

 

1. Skeleton Staff

An IT specialist at a bank James Kahira is lucky that his employer is working with a skeleton staff. This means having a few individuals in each department, to ensure that operations don’t come to a stand still, but at the same time, an entire company doesn’t suffer delays with staff stranded in various places within the city.

2. Working From Home

Many of the people we interviewed have the option of taking a flexi day, where they’ll be working from home, and don’t have to worry about commute within the city.

3. Off-days

Some day-schools have already announced a skip day fearing traffic jams, which a few Nairobians will also practice. An accountant commuting from Ngong Road to GM, Mombasa Road who identified herself as Salma has taken Friday July 24 and Monday July 27 off to avoid the headache. A few others told us that they opted not to loose their annual leave days but to wait and hear if the company would announce a general off-day.

4. Out Of Town Team Building

Carole Nafula, based at a PR and events company said that being a small organisation, they will be out of town before the US president arrives, and back Monday July 27 after he’s gone. She feels that the specific weekend was chosen as the management must have imagined it’s the perfect one to go off work.
There have been rumours that network reception may be a concern during Obama’s visit, which probably informed such a decision.

5. Walk To Work

Diana Chalagat, a manager at a bank based in the city centre is considering walking to work, unless other arrangements are communicated at the work place by the D-Day. But, this is because she lives in South B and a stroll through the Railways is relatively not too taxing.

6. Bodaboda

A taxi driver based in South B said he doesn’t plan to work on that day, dreading heavy traffic jams. He has taken the self-prescribed off-day to run some personal errands, and he is planning to talk with colleagues in the industry who run bodaboda taxis to ferry him around at friendly rates.
The mean machine cuts through any ‘thicket’ of  Nairobi traffic gridlock.

7. Re-scheduled Working Hours

Samuel Muiruri works as a digital specailist at a PR and Advertising Agency, commuting from Umoja to Westlands. Seeing as it has been reported that Obama will come past 5pm, he is planning to check into the office a few hours earlier than usual, and leave a little past lunch hour, before the expected mess escalates.

8. Hotels

Being that the this is peak working time for the media, certain media organisations are planning to house staff nearby their stations for a night or two, to ensure work is not affected.

9. Departmental Arrangements

Others have sought to make arrangements within their departments to save themselves the hustle. David Oluoch, a manager at an FMCG company in industrial area who shuttles from Karen, has made plans with his senior and juniors on how important work will be delivered on that day, with a recovery of the day by those who will go off duty that Friday slated for later.

10. Crash At A Friend’s

Mutheu told us that working at a supermarket, it is highly unlikely that any of the staff on duty can get a day off, hence she is thinking of moving to her cousin’s place in Pipeline, since she stays in Rongai and works in the city centre. That means that going through the major highways is something she can’t avoid, yet she doesn’t want to be caught up in the melee.