Angry driver stops matatu to fight nagging tout over Sh30

Passengers aboard a matatu in Nyeri were treated to a tickling spectacle when the driver stopped the vehicle to engage in a fistfight with his tout, after a heated argument over cash.

The two had been locked in a heated exchange of insults over Sh30, which the driver reportedly owed the tout, and had refused to pay up, calling the tout a poor mathematician, as the vehicle left the stage.

Witnesses claimed the tout had coaxed passengers into the Karatina-bound vehicle and expected to be paid Sh50 for the task, yet the driver only paid him Sh20, with a promise to pay the balance later in the day.

The tout, however, reportedly insisted that the driver pay him the balance before leaving the stage, leading to a heated argument that left passengers in stitches.

And in a rather flagrant portrayal of who the boss was, the driver arrogantly swaggered into the matatu and started the engine, ready to ferry the passengers to Karatina before paying the tout his full dues.

This angered the tout, who squeezed himself into the overloaded vehicle and kept nagging the driver to pay him. Shockingly, the driver gave him a deaf ear and maneuvered the vehicle out of the stage, and eventually stepped on the gas pedal en route to Karatina once the matatu hit the tarmac.

“Kai ureciria ndiaga Mahiga mundu? Hee mbeca ciakwa mani (Do you think I survive on stones. Give me my money, dude!)”, snarled the tout, to the tone-deaf driver who was trying to ignore him.

The passengers exhorted the driver to pay the tout his dues, but the driver would hear none of it, calling his ranting and raving “noise”.

“You are just making noise. You can continue wasting your time,” yelled the driver.

PERSISTENCE PAYS

This angered the hapless tout, forcing him to return the favor by insulting the driver using epithets that left the passengers cupping their mouths in shock and embarrassment.

“F*&@ you...%#!$ You have the audacity to brag about somebody else’s vehicle, yet you don’t even own a bicycle. Give me my money, you fool!” barked the tout, igniting a merry laughter in the parked vehicle.

The driver warned the tout to desist, but the latter was just getting started. The tout kept insisting that the driver should first hand him his dues.

When the insults persisted, the driver, angry that he had been insulted in the presence of his customers, parked the vehicle by the roadside, strolled to the passenger door and dragged the tout out by the collar.

He was shocked when the tout insisted that he would have to hand him the Sh30 and add something for the travel back to Nyeri terminus “where I operate from” before they could negotiate anything.

Scuffle ensued

The driver unsuccessfully tried to lock the passenger door and abandon the tout by the roadside, but the latter would not let him.

A scuffle ensued with the two going hammer-and-tongs at each other. The two fought for some time, with most of the passengers cheering them on.

However, an old man who was probably afraid he would be late for some appointment offered the tout Sh50 and warned the driver “not to joke with people’s money in future”, before the journey proceeded.