Risky business: Long commutes home attract crime in cities like Karachi and Nairobi

People living in slums on the outskirts are especially disadvantaged and the solution is mass transit.

KARACHI: Crime is a problem in Nairobi in the form of say muggings and carjackings, not necessarily house break-ins, says Patrick Adolwa, who was previously the director of City Planning in the City Council of Nairobi.

In particular, he points out the people who live on the peri-urban fringe of Nairobi as vulnerable because of the three to four hours it takes to get home due to a lack of proper mass transit. It is quite similar in Karachi where long commutes increase the risk of being mugged.

Nairobi tried to advocate for a metropolitan police but the national government refused. “Our argument was, and I was a proponent, that the urban is a unique system and you need people who understand its dynamics,” says Adolwa. “Policing rural areas is different from urban policing.” Similarly, Karachi’s ex-mayor Mustafa Kamal also argued for control of the police but the Sindh government refused.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2013.