From: joseph nyongesa

By mat I don’t mean mattress, much less a door mat. I mean our Kenyan matatus. I call them graduate thieves (or thieves who have graduated) because of the skill with which they go about their business.

They seem to be around three of four in number. This board a matatu and sit at strategic positions. Strategic position means next to the intended victim. Having done so, they commence with what brought them to Nairobi, namely pick pocketing, that is to pick from the pockets that are not their own. Having secured the contents of a few pockets, one of their number seemingly shouts to other to put on the seat belt because, “Kuna crackdown hapo mbele”. Then pandemonium breaks loose.

Passengers that is Kenyans who had not to that moment thought of seat belts are thrown into a confusion of sorts. They start scampering for seat belts and some even almost come to blows. It then emerges that only one seat belt is in proper condition-the one am using, oh how ingenious. As predicted, some passengers are so alarmed that they wish actually demand that the driver comes to a stop so they can alight. Which is understandable because who wants to spend the weekend in a police cell?

It is in this pandemonium that the graduate “ones” alight-to go celebrate the fruits of their ingenuity.

By the second stage, only a few of the original passengers remain having made up their mind for the worst and resigned themselves to it. Note that its only the second stage and the mat is three quarters empty! At the third stage, the Matatu is filled up with new passengers who will of course pay another full fare. That is where the owners of the matatu make their kill. It is then that you start hearing cries and groans. “oh my wallet! Oh my phone! Oh my Oh my….

The driver and taut are calm yet at the same trying to act surprised perhaps having known this all along. Just to set the records straight, I am a graduate but not one of the skilled “graduates”.

cheers.