Bodaboda, taxi operators narrate their ordeals at hands of robbers

In January last year John Njenga, a bodaboda operator in Nakuru, picked up a client from his London stage at 9pm.

The client wanted to go to Kiamunyi estate in Nakuru Town West sub-county.

He gladly accepted the job and they left for their destination, about five kilometres from the stage. He thought that would be his last trip before he closed for the day and went home after working for more than 10 hours.

Upon reaching the destination, the client offered Mr Njenga Sh300 as fare and requested him to wait until he called his wife to open the gate for him. He obliged.

But while the man was making his call, another motorcyclist approached from behind carrying two people with face masks on. They ordered Mr Njenga to alight from his motorbike and sit down.

He said the three men, who were armed with crude weapons, pounced on him. To his shock, the man he had carried also turned against him.

Mr Njenga was robbed of his motorbike, Sh2,000 that he had collected that day and a phone worth Sh8,000. The three robbers then left him on the ground with injuries.

He said he tried calling for help but nobody in the nearby wealthy estate responded. He gathered his strength, got up and walked to the main road, where a fellow bodaboda rider gave him a phone to call his colleagues.

“Nothing had prepared me for the attack when my client turned robber approached me at the stage. He was an old man, probably in his 60s. We even talked throughout the journey and when he asked me to take him near his gate I agreed. I did not suspect anything was fishy,” said Mr Njenga.

He reported the matter at the Kiamunyi Police Station before going to a hospital. He was admitted for one week after scans showed he had suffered injuries in his head, chest and legs. After he recovered, stayed at home for another month, as he had no motorbike.

He resorted to doing other casual work to support his family and save to buy another motorcycle. But the 35-year-old later decided to take a Sh126,000 loan to buy a motorcycle. Now he only works until 7pm for fear of being attacked again and says he has become paranoid.

Ibrahim Njihia, 22, another rider, said he had picked up three men two months earlier near the Eveready roundabout. It was 8pm and they asked to be dropped off at Soilo, where they said they would catch a matatu to their final destination.

Mr Njihia said the men posed as masons working at a construction site in Kaptembwa but needed to head back to Njoro sub-county.

But upon reaching the Njoro junction, the three men said they wanted to alight from the motorbike and one offered to pay the entire charge.

Then they suddenly turned against Mr Njihia, assaulting him before taking off with his motorbike.

“I focused on the guy who was supposed to pay, giving the other two a chance to attack me. There were a few vehicles on the road. They threw me into a ditch and took off. Luckily, they never took my phone. I called for help from my colleagues,” said Mr Njihia.

But he and the seller of the motorbike tracked it down to Kabel village in Baringo County, recovering it the same night at 1am.

The two are just a few of the hundreds of riders in Nakuru who have fallen victim to motorcycle thieves posing as clients before they turn against them, robbing and even killing them.

On Friday last week, a taxi driver who had been missing for three days was found murdered and his body dumped in a maize plantation in Soilo in Nakuru Town West.

Mr John Nderitu’s family said his car was recovered on Thursday, a day before his body was found about 20 metres away.

His brother Peter Mundia said he would be laid to rest on Friday at his home in Kabatini in Bahati sub-county.

A rider, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that most of the motorcyclists were robbed just months before they completed paying off their loans.

Riders said that although they reported the cases to the police, the response was slow, allowing the thieves to flee to neighbouring counties and the bikes never to be seen.

“These robbers normally pose as good people. They sometimes use ladies, who request to be ferried at night but once you reach their destination, you are attacked. You cannot fight back, because most of the time, they are armed. And they usually prefer deserted places,” he said.

Nakuru West Police Commander Samson Gathuku denied that there was an increase in cases of bodaboda and taxi drivers being attacked, saying that they had received only two cases of motorcycle theft in the past six months.

“We have no record of such cases, but we urge the bodaboda riders to report if they have any for action to be taken,” said Mr Gathuku.

But riders and taxi operators say they do not report these cases because the police never act on them, and in most cases ask for bribes from the victims.