MAUNGU STAND OFF PT1

One afternoon after successfully towing a truck from Tana Delta to  Msa Muarabu summoned me into his spacious air conditioned office and after his usual unprintable greetings was offered a seat alafu karushiwa note book and he instructed me to make a list of our best drivers, Muarabu sio mtu wa kuulizwa maswali akikuambia jump unajump so being very curious I penned down four of our best drivers.  Deree wawili mimi ndio nilikua nimewaleta na hao wengine had found them there in the kambuni. I handed him the list na after kusoma majina akacheka kaa ananirushia diary yake where he had scrolled down the same names that were on my list. Its then that he told me about his latest contract of which he was to transport 4 high value containers to the capital and that’s why he needed his best derees.

We then got down to analyzing them one by one. On top we had Kigen, a crazy Kipsigis who had been with the company for over 20 yrs, yeye ndie alianza maneno ya kufunga barabara ukipata puncture on the highway in unsafe areas, the we had Mureithi, a mad Meru who had shown us all the benefits of having a sharp panga in the cabin, kuna siku alikua amevamiwa na kata hema pale Kiima Kiu and by the time the police arrived two thugs were on the ground fighting for their lives.  Nduati, ex matatu driver turned trucker, the fastest truck driver I know till to date, mizigo zote za haraka alikua abeba yeye. And then we had Abdi, our oldest driver, huyo oria had been on the nations highways since the early 70s with an ancient Fiat (zile zilikua za sneeze after every 10 seconds) and was accident free. All this derees had mechanical knowledge too.

Meli ilikua yatia nanga in two days and apart from Abdi who was in Mombasa all the others were on the road, we quickly made arrangements for them to get back to base ASAP. Before I was released was given another assignment ya kupitia police headquarters ni book two armed plainclothes policemen to guard the high value consignment along the road. Kufika huko I used my connections and was allowed to take my pick, I picked a former classmate and he recommended his best friend, then called Muarabu ka muambia kila kitu chonjo  

Following day the whole crew was in by 5pm and we got a briefing from Muarabu + the consignment owners who also added one more detective in the mix. I allocated guys their trucks which were promptly driven to the port to await the docking of the ship. It was agreed that Abdi would be truck number one na hakuna kumpita followed by Kigen, Mureithi and Nduati to bring up the rear, ustake jua vile ali curse but there was no arguing with Muarabu. Mimi naye would be in a road patrol double cab pamoja na makanika with my two policemen who as Muarabu was paying top dollar had requested that they be armed with AKs. They also had small arms in their holsters. The other detective nilimuweka kwa gari ya Kigen as he was a Nandi.

This was the convoy of four Scannia beasts (with mileage kwa Mfuko) that I led out of the port around 4pm, tulikua tumecheleweshwa na customs due to paper work lakini all had been sorted, I slowly led the way out of town but kufika Mazeras kakimbia mbele hadi Mariakini weighbridge where we brandished our papers and as the trucks arrived they were waved through, sisi hao Maji ya chumvi, Samburu, Taru and the perennial jam, Mackinnon rd but kufika Maungu ilikua saa moja and we had to stop. We had strict instructions not to travel at night. Vile tulipark hizo trucks mtu sharp would have guessed iko kitu hapo, two trucks turned and faced back to Msa alafu zikapiga reverse zikaja mpaka zikasikana na hizi zingine, hakukua ata na mwanya ya cockroach to pass through alafu kachukua the local carwash guy kampa kazi ya kungalisha hizo gari zote. I also hired a maasai to keep an eye on the trucks.  I then led my worthy crew of 8 to a hotel where we could eat and rest our tired bones.

Hii hotel apart from the seats and tables in the main reception area ilikua na cubicles huko nyuma named after various mountains in East Africa, we settled for Ruwenzori as the others were occupied, Mureithi already had a poko by the time we sat down, watu kumi kuitisha beer moja moja ni upus so we odered for a crate tuchanganyiwe vizuri juu kulikua na watu wa balozi. Abdi being a strict muslim excused himself akaenda kwa mosque. Watu wangu acha nimwamie siri moja ya hizi road side hotels and eateries, never ask for ready made food, unaweza pewa ma left overs au stale food so after kumeza beer moja kamchukua classmate tukaenda kitchen tukaagizia mbizi nusu ipikwe fry na iwekwe makadharika, on the way back to Ruwenzori tukasimama kwa reception and booked our rooms