Wife’s boda boda embrace lands rider in hot soup

By Antony Gitonga                            

In Naivasha, it’s estimated that there are over 3,000 motorcycle taxi operators known as nduthis located in every corner of the town.

They are blamed for various accidents, which have left scores injured and in other cases killed. But the men accuse them of getting too cosy with their wives and girlfriends.

Grinning

They allege that the taxi operators are overheard advising their female customers, “Ebu nishike vizuri hii barabara sii mzuri na unaweza anguka (hold me tight as this section of the road is rough and you might fall).”

Too scared to question the rider due to the high speed at which the motorbikes race, many women ‘tighten’ their grip on the waist of the now grinning operators.

This was exposed last week in the sprawling Karagita estate when a man confronted one of the taxi operators because of the ‘romantic’ manner he was ferrying his wife.

Wafula, who works at a flower farm, attacked the operator after complaining that the two had ‘something fishy’ going on. He said he smelled a rat because his wife always preferred the operator whenever she had an errand to run.

“Whenever I see my wife, she is always closely holding the man’s waist tightly. I can swear something is going on,” said Wafula.

The father of two said that in his five years of marriage, his wife had never held him that close despite pledging her love for him.

“Niko na baiskeli. Nikibeba bibi yangu, yeye huwa hanishiki. Yeye hukaa kwa upande. Lakini akibebwa na pikipiki, yeye hushika dereva kwa kiuno (I own a bike but when I give my wife a ride, she never holds me. But anytime she is on a motorbike, she must hold the rider by the waist),” he fumed.

Unable to contain his anger, the man attacked the taxi operator just as he dropped his wife outside their rented house in the estate.

Toppled

Without warning, the man lashed at the middle-aged man and toppled him to the ground to the shock of neighbours who at first could not understand what was going on.

The flower farm worker complained loudly about the ‘rides’ done mainly in the evening and the ‘tight-grips’ between the two.

Some of those present broke into laughter while others consoled the man advising him to talk to his wife and stop being jealous.

“But my wife does not hug me whenever I come from work yet she has time to hold and laugh with this motorcycle operator,” he complained.

Wafula vowed that he would divorce his wife and ferry her back to her rural area if he ever saw her on a motorcycle again.

But his wife denied she had a relationship with the motorcycle operator, saying she just preferred him because he was ‘cautious’ and also gave her discounts because she was a regular customer.

Other Naivasha residents not happy with motorcycle taxi operators are plus-sized men and women who are at times charged double fare on claims that they damage the bike’s shock absorbers.