Why I will not be going to Kikuyu in the near future.

For more than five times I had promised my childhood friend Michael Maina a visit in Kikuyu. I decided to make good my promise in November 2008.That idea crossed my mind when I was walking along Moi Avenue in Nairobi. I walked briskly towards Kenya National Archives and caught a 105 matatu near there at 11am. Half an hour later I was in Kikuyu township. I called my Michael and he joined me a few minutes later. We exchanged pleasantries as he suggested that we get in a café for lunch. Later on, we left for his home some 500 meters away. We found his wife,Lilian, relaxing in the house.Apparently; she was recovering from a bout of malaria that had brought her down. “Where have you been all these months, Mwangi?” she asked me. “I have been busy in my work but at least I have found time today to honor my promise,” I replied. For the better part of the afternoon, the three were engaged in a jovial chit chat as we caught movies. It wasn’t until 6pm that I realized that it was getting late and I requested to leave. “Why don’t you spend the night with us here today?” Lilian implored. “I will do it another day, today you have to excuse me as I have some important matters to attend to tomorrow morning,” I pleaded with her. With that, I bid her goodbye. Michael accompanied me to the township as we discussed important matters pertaining to our families. When we got near the bus stage, he suggested that we take nyama choma in an eatery a few meters away. This accorded us time to discuss some important matters in a nitty gritty. At 7.30pm, we walked together at the stage. I was fortunate to find a matatu almost immediately. He bid me goodbye when the matatu was full. I sat on the seat directly behind the driver’s seat.Minutes later, we drove off towards our destination. Some passengers alighted at Gitaru as others boarded. This took more that five minutes and some passengers started complaining. When we made it to Kinoo, the driver stopped the matatu as more passengers alighted.Meanwhile, the passengers who wanted to board the matatu literally fought to secure seats. Some hooligans extorted cash from the tout for what they explained as searching for passengers. I learned that is a normal occurrence in Kinoo especially at night fall.Ten minutes later, we drove off. Hardly had we driven for a kilometer along Waiyaki Way than a dramatic twist of events took place in the matatu.The passenger who was seated near the driver brandished a gun and hit the driver in the head. He then pulled him out of the driver’s cabin and he took control of the 14-seater matatu.He ordered the driver to pass through the metal contraption behind the driver’s seat. The frightened driver stepped crawled over the passengers until he was got to the rear seats.Meanwhile, three other passengers ordered us to remain silent and hand over money and phones to them. They too had guns. It occurred to us that the matatu was under the control of hijackers. Everything happened so fast that I thought I was in a dreamland. The hijacker who was behind the wheel swerved from right to left before he could manage to control the matatu.It was so scary considering how dangerous Waiyaki way is. We were hapless in the hands of dangerous criminals. I gave them the cash I had and also my phone.However,I managed to chuck out the SIM card discreetly. The criminal who assumed the role of the tout, continued picking unsuspecting passengers along the way. Once inside, their possessions were likewise taken away. The hijackers exchanged some words and decided to divert from the main highway. They drove us along James Gichuru road as they threatened to shoot us should they realize that we could be hiding any money. We had no idea where the hijackers were taking us and we had every reason to be scared stiff. They drove us to towards Kawangware.Once there, they once again divert the vehicle along a bumpy weather road. I couldn’t tell where we were. Ten minutes later, we made it to the slum dwelling. The four criminals alighted from the vehicle casually and melted into the sprawling slum. The driver of that matatu drove us to Muthaiga police station where we recorded our statements. Most of us had lost our valuables but amazing there were those had managed to hide money in their inner wears. As I was wondering how I would make it to my home since I had no money with me, a middle-aged man who I got acquainted to as we drove to the station promised to take care of that. He told me, “Imagine it is just the grace of God that those criminals didn’t frisk us too much. I have Kshs.12000 I managed to hide in private parts.” The driver was kind enough and he drove us all the way to Nairobi. I was fortunate in that my newly found friend was going in the same route as myself. He gave me Kshs.200 and I made it home safely. It was such a nightmare. I called Michael when I made it home. It was hard to convince him what had happened to me. The only conviction that he had was the fact that he had tried to call me when we parted but I was unreachable. James Mwangi Kanyi.