"I wonât pay," I vowed silently. In total, I counted about 30 people, who came in and walked out after paying the bribe. Out of these only one man, in my judgment, was a hawker, and the evidence was there â a carton full of biscuits and sweets. He is the man whom I blame for the sin that I eventually committed â pay the bribe. While slowly peeling off a âTropicalâ sweet he warned: "Unajua tukipelekwa Central (police station) ni mpaka Monday." By the time he finished the statement, I was clutching Sh1000. Sh500 for the mechanic, Sh500 for myself. The policeman took the money and we bid him bye.
Well, there is an unholy alliance between council askaris and the police to harass and fleece the public. From my one-hour experience, the council vans are merely mobile bribe-collection points. How can salaried people be allowed to use vehicles fuelled by tax-payers to intimidate and solicit bribes from taxpayers, Town Clerk Philip Kisia?
Long wait for Airtel Kenyaâs call
How long does Airtel Kenya take to call their customers when they promise to do so? This is the question that is bothering Mr Samuel Njuguna who was promised that a supervisor would call him.
However, Mr Njugunaâs major worry isnât the âbigâ call but explanation about what happened to his data bundle.
"I bought 500MB worth Sh399 on February 26 and got a confirmation text. I could not connect to the Internet immediately due to what I learned later was some technical hitch on their systems. However, on checking bundle balance later, I was shocked to learn I was on âpay-as-you-go data planâ."
It is for this âwrong equationâ that Njunguna desperately expects the call from the supervisor.
He claims that customer care executivesâ promised that the problem would be solved and subsequent text message that it was solved didnât help. He can be contacted on 0733671576 or njuguna.samuel@yahoo.com.
Donât you forget
Did Orange fix clientâs lines?
On November 24 last year, Orange Kenya customer HR Shah wrote to PointBlank accusing the company of ânot being botheredâ to revive his dead telephone lines (numbers 4181072 and 4183041).
He claimed to have reported the matter to Orange several times but no action was taken.
