Passengers sing dirges to dupe touts

By Mkala Mwaghesha

Passengers in a Nairobi-bound matatu were forced to belt out dirges and wail uncontrollably to avoid the wrath of demonstrating matatu operators recently.

The passengers, squeezed in a 14-seater route 120 (Githunguri-Kiambu-Nairobi) matatu, met their ten-minute drama when they were passing through Kiambu town.

That was during the weeklong nationwide matatu strike that took place in protest of the new traffic rules. The strike, for all its madness, was a godsend as it sent politicians to the backburner.

The new rules, which came into effect on December 1, have been termed by angry operators as more life changing than the famous 2004 Michuki rules.

Sly

The strike did not, however, deter some sly operators from conducting business, albeit with improvisations, to keep off angry and violent operators. Red ribbons, wedding decorations and even tinted vans labeled ‘private’ were all in vogue.

For the said matatu, the operators plastered it with red ribbons to camouflage its intentions on the empty roads; that it was ferrying mourners to a funeral.

Having done two round trips already, the driver tried to push his luck, only to meet with an angry mob on the outskirts of Kiambu town, carrying paraphernalia that included placards, banana stalks and muddy shoes.

Sensing an unruly crowd that was baying for any victims upon which to vent their rage their distaste with the rules and those responsible for them, the driver asked the passengers to start singing burial songs.

“Please, anyone, lead us with any dirges so that we do not encounter any harm from these fellows,” the driver said in his mother tongue while shaking with fright.?

Chorus

With the crowd outside moving closer to the vehicle, a middle-aged woman, sitting at the back of the matatu, let out an ear-piercing wail and churned out the chorus of a popular dirge. The rest of the passengers, including the shaken conductor, joined in, mourning an imaginary person.

The confusion could be seen on the faces of the demonstrating crowd, who had been salivating with anxiety and anticipation when they saw the matatu, as they knew the red-ribbon scam pretty well.

As the vehicle neared, they slowed down the driver and asked for information on the bereaved, getting sketchy details of an untimely death in Githunguri.

With their adrenaline still high, the protesters forgot their plight with Transport minister Amos Kimunya, whom they wanted gone, and escorted the vehicle through Kiambu town, joining in on the dirges coming from the vehicles, while clearing other vehicles from the road to let the bereaved pass.

At one point, the surging crowd suggested a hastily arranged harambee to send the deceased well into the lands of the unknown. The money never reached the ‘mourners’ as it got lost in the midst of the many ‘well-wishers’.

After exiting the town, the driver picked up speed as the passengers laughed and chatted animatedly about the episode. ?

The dead, too, must have had a good laugh.