Nairobbery-Shamba La Mawe

The day is Tuesday 8th December 2020, and I am in town walking toward the Molo line prestige office to book a ticket so that I can head to Kisumu. Somewhere along the way, I find myself distracted by God knows what, and I head to Latema road to go and board Samper tours because I thought they were faster. As I head towards their offices, these two guys approach me and tell me that another vehicle, a Toyota Noah, is just opposite where we were, and we head to the junction of Latema road and Dubois road. True to their word, the vehicle is there and is almost full. I get in, and these guys collecting the money did not even give me time to settle in and came asking for the fare with some dirty receipt, without a company logo. At first, I wondered whether I had messed up but consoled myself after seeing the other three guys waiting patiently for the vehicle to leave the city. I gave the guy 2000 shillings, and he tells me that he had no change and would give me later. Later, I realized that one of the passengers who was seated in front of me also had not been given her change.

A few minutes later, the city askaris came to where we were and started asking the driver of a lorry that was parked in front of us for a loading/unloading permit and the team that was working on bringing passengers and collecting the fare from the passengers come rushing and told the driver to get the vehicle out of that place to shell petrol station opposite Sample travel tours office. The guy obliges and reaching the station, these guys dillydally and come after some time, when the petrol station guys had already harassed us and asked us to take the vehicle out of that place. The driver asks if he can do a pressure refill, but he is told that it is dysfunctional. All this time, the team is watching at a distance as they make their calculated moves. Realizing that the driver had been asked to leave the station, one guy called Brayo comes and asks the driver to drive towards Tom Mboya street and join it to Accra road so that he can be given the money and the passengers' change returned. As he does that, the cops bump on him, and he is asked to give out his driving license, which he obliges. The cop knowing that that might be an easy way of making money because the vehicle had no PSV sticker, directs him to Tsavo road, and the driver makes a call to Brayo, who was supposed to call the guy who was collecting the fare to come and sort out the mess with the cop. The guy meets us at Tsavo road, and the driver is again told to go to the Shell petrol station where we were earlier on. He then joins us, and when asked to give the money to the driver so that we can begin our journey to Kisumu, he gives the driver 3500, out of a possible 6000 after claiming that he bribed the cop with 1000 and some other guy with another 1000.

 So, in short, the guy collected 7000 but only had 3500, which included the change (1000) and money for refueling the vehicle. The mess starts from there as the irate passengers demand that they be given their money back. The guy genuinely has no money because all this time, we have been with him in the vehicle as these guys play cat and mouse with him. The guys then disappear into thin air, and all their phones are switched off. We all alight and demand that the driver gives us back our money. He is reluctant but makes numerous calls to the owner of the vehicle in Kisumu, who is also hesitant. By chance, another cop walks just near where we were, and we request his assistance. Realizing that it is now a police case, the driver decides to use his own money to pays us back.

The experience was not a good one, and I felt for the driver because he was innocent. It was unfortunate that we had to involve the cops, but that was the only way to get our money back. 

In Swahili, they say, Nairobi ni shamba la mawe.