The taxi operators' nightmare

By NICK OLUOCH AND KENAN MIRUKA

For most taxi operators, one of the worst fears remains being carjacked by their ‘customers’.

Like other businessmen, they are expected to appreciate and welcome their customers openly with open hearts. But taxi operators in Nyanza can no longer afford to trust any of their customers. Not after many of them have fallen victim to robbers who come as friendly customers.

For those working in Nyanza close to the international borders, the risk is a reality with a good number of the carjackers preferring to cross over to other countries where chances of the cars ever being recovered are almost nil.

Last year, Felix Odiwuor, a taxi driver operating within Migori town lost his vehicle to carjackers who are believed to have crossed over to Tanzania with his car.

Customers’ request

On that day, two smartly dressed men and a woman had approached Odiwuor at Migori bus stage at 1am asking to be taken to Awendo town to pick some luggage.

"Upon reaching the sugar belt town, the suspects changed their story and opted to proceed to Ranen, where I was thrown out of the driver’s seat and one of them took charge," he recalls.

"They told me to alight from the vehicle because they were going to do a dangerous assignment where I could easily be killed and immediately threw me onto the tarmac before they sped off," he adds. That was the last time the white Toyota Probox, KBK 708Z was seen.

His story is not much different from several other taxi operators’ in the region.

The operators say most of the vehicles stolen from them end up in Tanzania where they are quickly dismantled and sold as spare parts.

According to Dan Kerario, a taxi operator based in Isebania border town along the Kenya Tanzania border, it is almost impossible for a local operator to get back his car when it is lost within the area.

"The border is just too long for the law enforcement officers to police," he says, adding that a number of operators have lost their vehicles and motorbikes to the robbers.

　

He says most of these robbers do not follow the main roads as this would increase their chances of being arrested. They mostly prefer to take advantage of the porous unguarded border points to cross where they are not likely to meet police officers from either side.

joint effort

Kerario also believes the syndicate is a joint collaboration between Kenyans and Tanzanians. While it is the Kenyans who identify the cars and monitor the security situation, it is the Tanzanians who get the market for the cars and give the specifications of the cars on demand in Tanzania to be delivered.

He says they have established that most cars are sneaked out of the country through Kumumwamu market and the border stretching towards Muhuru Bay since the area is not regularly policed.

Kerario says carjackers kill the drivers at times when they are known to the driver or when they suspect that he could identify them to the police. However, he says most of the time the attackers spare the drivers.

Migori Deputy OCPD Mr James Mwangi says cases of drivers being killed after carjacking incidents are rare in the region, but points to the Kisii incident where the driver was killed as the most recent case of its nature.

"That is the only case I can mention. We are doing all we can to ensure taxi operators are safe and can conduct their business without fear of carjackers," says Mwangi.

Kuria DCIO Jacob Muchai acknowledges there are vehicles stolen from Kenya and taken into Tanzania through Sirare border.

Mr Muchai says his office has helped recover three cars this year alone from Tanzania. He says mostly, the cars stolen are on hire. He notes that new cars are the ones mostly targeted.

"Some vehicles stolen from Kenyan towns have found their way into Tanzania but we have recovered three so far. Once we are notified, we track the vehicles with the help of our counterparts from Tanzania," Muchai says.

He, however, says recovering vehicles from Tanzania has been a challenge because if a case is filed there, then it has to be determined before the car is released to Kenyan authorities. He, however, denied existence of a syndicate.

Gucha OCPD Richard Ng’etich admits there were cases of motorcycle and car thefts in the area but since the arrest of a key suspect, the incidents have gone down.

"We arrested one key suspect we believe to have been connected to a series of theft incidents and he is facing a case in court. One suspect is however still at large. We hear he operates in Transmara, Kuria and stays in Tanzania, but we shall catch up with him," Ng’etich says.