I was lazing away a hot afternoon supervising duruma locals fencing the mu shaina’s plot when a call came through my phone.
It was a construction materials broker from Mombasani, alerting me to a juicy deal he had.
“Kuna jamaa mswahili yuataka tipper tatu za mchanga wa mjanaheri na analipa 48k cash kwa kila tipper, kama hizo FAW ama Beiben ambazo mwafanya nazo” said the broker.
“Ah hao achana na wao. Ni waswahili. Watasumbua kulipa” I answered.
“Huyu hasumbui. Namjua…” Insisted the broker. “Ama, acha nimpe number yako muongee, uone kama mtakubaliana. Na uniekee elfu mbili kwa kila tipper, poa? Usinibwage mazee, hii dili iko chonjo…”
“Haina nduru. Mpe anipigie, tukiongea ntakujulisha” i answered.
Three minutes later, call comes through. A soft spoken swahili guy blathering on about how he wants the finest quality Mjanaheri riversand for his building project, blah blah blah. I decide to test him.
“Kama wataka tukuletee mchanga, haina shida. Tutaleta. Lakini itabidi utoe deposit. Wengi tushawaletea, baada ya kufika na mchanga Mombasa hata simu hashiki. Nitumie 25k ya diesel na kununua mchanga, alafu Cess nitalipa mimi.” I challenge him, knowing all too well he can’t send me money since he doesn’t know me that well.
“Na nikikutumia pesa leo, huo mchanga utafika lini?” He asks.
“Ata leo leo usiku. Malindi ni hapa tu.” I answer.
“Sawa nitakupigia” muswahili says.
“Poa” I answer.
In my head, I know i have dismissed a joker pretending to be a client.
One minute later, a text comes to my phone.
The type text that makes all Kenyans happy.
LXYGHUB Confirmed. You have received Kshs 25,250 from Ismail Abdalla 072*******…New MPESA balance is 25,253.80.
Haiya! Mu swahili was serious!
Now, from my previous narration, you all know that my mu shaina boss had left that camp in my hands, having run off to “safe zones” . That means all truck keys/ equipment were in my command.
In that compound being fenced, was a materials storage yard, in which had abundant amounts of Malindi riversand. I toyed with the idea of purloining that riversand, but elected against it since it would have raised alot of eyebrows. And in particular, a dim eyed guard who was over zealous in protecting chinese’s property to make a name for hisself.
The only solution was to assign a tipper to do that job. I decided on a shiny eye Amerucan who drove a FAW J5-380.
"Vaite, kuna order, ya kupeleka mchanga Mombasa na 30k. Si tuchangamke? I lied to him. “Na Inabakisha hesabu nzuri. Mafuta nitakujazia hapa. Tutaenda na iyo FAW yako. Na mchina hata jua, waona hayuko area. Hii ni yangu na wewe”
Vaite, always eager to make a crooked coin, eagerly agreed. Wah! A clean 16k per trip! (2k za yule broker Mombassa, 30k vaite, total 48k.)I filled the tipper’s diesel tank full with the chinaman’s diesel and lied to the dim eyed guard that we were going to fetch some waste pipes that had been left unguarded in Mariakani, and it would take time, so awachilie FAW ya vaite itoke. Guard did so, and off we went. It was around 3pm.
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Taru-Mazeras-Kaloleni-Mavueni-Kilifi-Malindi journey was un eventful. We got to Malindi, picked the sand shamba owner at Sabaki Bridge, went with him to his sand shamba and his boys started loading the Mjanaheri sand onto the tipper.
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By the time they were finishing loading, it was 10pm. Got back on the B8 heading for Mombasa.
Just past Gede, i started feeling sleepy. I adjusted the seat and started snoozing, as I was weary from being undecided on whether to use this (16k) x3 on upgrading my jalopy’s tyres to 14 with broad rims from the ugly 13 steel rims, or to complete the lintel beams on my pigsty pale 001.
I decided to sleep a bit, before getting to Mombasa.
I called the mu swahili client Ismail, and told him to expect his sand in the next 2 hours. He said ok, as soon as we get to Msa, I call him he gives us directions on where to find him.
Now, us muguu kumi operators, when hauling materials to Mombasa from the North Coast…usually don’t pass through Mtwapa. Weighbridge issues. You can’t pass the Mtwapa weighbridge with a mguu kumi tipper weighing more than 28 tonnes.
We overload and we love it.
Past Kilifi, there’s a junction called Mavueni. This is the route we follow…leads to a newly-done road to Kaloleni, then after that ARM cement factory, we go up that Mwakirunge rough road to Nguu tatu- Mshomoroni and enter Mombasa. This route is preferred because it has no cess, no weighbridge, and no likes of @pamba
Now, The Kilifi County Cess weigh-bridge had indicated that we were laden 40 tonnes gross, thats 14 tonnes overload. Allowed tonnage for all muguu kumi’s on Kenyan roads is usually 26 tonnes gross. We had also heard that “watu wa mkeka wako area” in Malindi, but this deal being quite good, we didn’t pay attention to that.
Just past Mnarani, after crossing Kilifi Bridge, kausingizi kangu kameshika proper, I heard the vaite driver exclaim loudly “kaaaang’uura!!”
I woke up, startled.
“Aye, murume, What is?” I asked.
" Mugeka acio!! Pikafu iria KBN!! Kang’ura!! Aria haria thuutha maragaruruka mattu fuate!!" He said, indicating at the side mirror.
Now, KeNHA contracts SGS to check HCVs using the roads that aren’t manned by a stationary weighbridge like Mariakani & Mtwapa.
For this, SGS uses mobile weighbridge check units that patrols the major roads all around Kenya, commonly known as mizani ya mkeka.
Those mobile weighbridges look like those swahili papyrus mat popular in Coast, hence the nickname mkeka. In Mombasa, those buggers roam around in two pickups:- KBU and KBN hilux. They are second in line in list of mguu kumi operators’ enemies, after NTSA.
I peered out through my window, and true t to his words, a white Hilux pick up ( double cabin) was hot on our heels, flashing headlights in a manner indicating for us to stop.
“Turugame, kana atia?” Asks vaite.
“Kai wiina goma!?” I retort. “Gari ya mu shaina twanyitwo nayo tukuga tuku giriite kii guku todu uyu wiira ti wa mu shaina? Raga gari murume, nikii wee!!” I instruct.
Wacha vaite akanyage FAW. That truck was driven. Mavueni junction leaving the Msa-Mld highway i can swear i saw that truck drift. Its a 90 degree turn…and all this in high gears, kinembe haikupewa low ata one single time.
The chase went on…KBN Hilux hot behind us. Anytime they would try to overtake us, vaite would swerve the tipper to their side , scaring them well off the road. We had to pull a decider move to lose them once and for all.
We had already stroked their wrath by threatening to ram into their Hilux with this tipper in those swerving blockade maneuvers, so in event they caught us, dialogue and civility would take a backseat.
These buggers were pissed. They would have given us a beating of a lifetime. Or worse.
Mark you, these are SGS staff and two Kenya policemen. Utumishi kwa wote.
Part 2 coming up…
