City council worker who lives inside an old car

By COLLINS KWEYU

A dilapidated Toyota Corolla parked on a roadside in the city centre is all a former council worker calls home.

He eats, sleeps and sits most of his time in the nonfunctional saloon car he bought years ago when he worked as a clerk at the now defunct council.

After being sacked from his job at the  City Council of Nairobi in 2007, Francis Wamalwa Wekesa has known no other home.

“Had it not been for this car I would have died long ago,” he says. All his earthly possessions are tucked in the boot of the car.

As with many homeless people, finding food and warmth and a place to clean up is a struggle but he has another challenge.

“I have to remain unnoticed,” he says.

Today the car is parked near Nyayo House. Before he was dismissed from work, Wekesa used to live in Kiserian and he even owned a Volkswagen. One day he was accosted by thugs and almost lost his life.

“I approached my boss and requested for a two-week break to look for a new house since I was not comfortable in Kiserian,” he recalls. 

Unfair dismissal

But when he came back, he says, he was shocked to find a dismissal letter and was only paid Sh19,000 — his pension interest.

“I still believe my dismissal was unfair,” he says.

As a clerical officer Wekesa managed files of over 17,000 workers and says he was even lucky to have bought two cars from the council’s sacco. He had planned to turn them into taxis but one was written off after a road accident on his way from his Cherangany rural home.

“This was at Kinungi and the car was towed to Naivasha Police Station where it remains to date,” he says.

Soon afterwards his wife left and took their only child.

 He washes his clothes after a few days at the City Council recreation centre near Teleposta Plaza where sympathisers give him water in buckets at a small fee and at times at no cost.

The police, including the traffic officers, who patrol the city centre sympathise with his situation and let him free, as his predicament is touching.

“It would be inhumane to arrest such a person,” says an officer who did not wish to be named. 

Wekesa who also does parking-boy errands as  some motorists use his car to keep parking space for his ‘clients’ who pay him anything between Sh100 and Sh300, which he spends on food.

Unfortunately, his car is ever without fuel and he relies on people to push it as he looks for parking space in different places within the city.

Rob me

“I have friends among the parking boys and they often come to my aid,” he says.

“But at times they turn against me and even rob me,” he adds.

He avoids the area around TelePosta Plaza because the huge communication masts on the building have affected his hearing system.

“This is why I prefer areas around Kenyatta Avenue,” he says.  He also avoids the areas near 680 Hotel because of the music from Simmers restaurant.

His favourite area is near the City Hall parking lot.

Taxi business

 “Sometimes my car comes in handy with street families and even prostitutes in need of shelter,” he says.

The ladies whom I don’t want to refer to as prostitutes but as my sisters who come to sleep here are few and I have established a good rapport with them for a long time, they boost me with between Sh20 and Sh100 which keep me going brother,” says Wekesa.

 Wekesa who frequently smokes cigarette as a way to relax his mind and forget his suffering, thanks the council askaris for not harassing him by demanding parking fee from him but says he is ready to pay for it if he gets meaningful employment.

 What he is asking the current leadership at the City hall led by Governor Evans Kidero is to return him to his old job and complete his remaining 10 years on job.

He says that if he is returned to work he will look for a house to rent and prove his critics that he is a man enough who can pay for services and even marry another woman.

 Alternatively, he says, Kidero should facilitate the speeding up payment of his benefits at the city hall which will enable him to embark on setting up sweets or potato chips selling business or use the money he is paid to repair his car and do a serious taxi business.