There’s a time I worked as a crew in the alarm response vehicle for a reputable security firm. Hii job tulikuwa tukiingia saa tisa alasiri hadi six the following morning, that is if you’re working night shift and vise versa for day shift, each shift running for one week.
Unaenda off the seventh day ukibadilisha shift.
Kwa hiyo gari hakuna kulala wote, mjipange in shifts mlale, mtu mmoja akiskiza the radio call just in case iitane. Sleeping on duty attracted a very serious disciplinary measure.
Then the vehicles are tracked, if you go out of your area of operation without instructions, gari itazimwa hapo and you’ll have to report to the head office the following morning with a written explanation after which they decide which action to take against you. All instructions had to come from the officer in charge at the control room, in a coded language, which was mandatory for all.
At first I was stationed at Gigiri, pale Kenol. We’d patrol from Redhill to Runda, kule Eritrean embassy, sometimes Gachie and Spring Valley. That place wasn’t bad, there were police everywhere ila tu ni kusota and the distance from my place to the work station.
I lived in Mathare na hakuna direct matatu from there to Gigiri. So nlikuwa natoka mtaani saa saba nikanyage.
Route ni Muthaiga golf, mini market, niteremke alafu nipande hapo kttc, that was exactly two hours.
On some lucky days, a good Samaritan could offer us a lift coz hiyo route ina watchmen wengi sana.
I was lucky enough to get a transfer to town to another vehicle, at least it was close to mtaa. Hapa, our base was kombo munyiri road, patrolling kamukunji into Gikosh na Kariokor. It wasn’t so bad or so I thought. Kulikuwa na tips, singekosa fare na pesa ya maziwa asubuhi and occasionally some foodstuff from wale mama mboga wa Gikomba.
New work place, new colleagues and a very strange work ethic. Kuna jamaa hapo alikuwa na pesa daily, mara atubuyie supper, mara coffee mara fare. He used to tell us eti ako na stable biz Kitengela so hii job ya watchie ilikuwa pastime tu. Seriously?? Na vile ni ngumu na risky!
Hapo Kombo Munyiri, kuna hardware kadhaa alafu nyuma there’s a stream between kamkunji police na huku kwa mabiz, if you know that place you know what I mean.
Gari za alarm hubeba watu wanne, dere,commander na crew wawili.
The same week that I was transferred there, kuna attempted break in ilifanyika hapo Juma Hardware.
Kuna majamaa walikuja through the stream from Kariokor, wakapanda ukuta onto the roof na wakaanza kungoa mabati ndio waingie.
Meanwhile, kuna wenzao walikuwa wakimonitor makarau na sisi kwenye tuko.
Unfortunately for them, the alarm went off wakiwa huko juu and we responded na bahati mzuri kulikuwa na makarau around who also came asap. Tukatafuta, mpaka tukazunguka kule nyuma, there was nobody. Kumbe mafala walitulia kwa roof wakituangalia tu.
Karau mmoja akasema he had a feeling there was somebody on the roof. He insisted and convinced us to believe so.
He ordered the night guard manning that hardware to go up the roof to inspect coz kwa gari tulikuwa na aluminium ladder ile refu. Against his wishes, he went up.
Jamaa hata hakufika juu, he said he heard movements na akasema kuna watu kwa mabati.
Officer alipiga risasi juu and shouted that they surrender and come down.
Meanwhile tukaitisha back up coz kuna magari mawili za industrial area zilikuwa na makarau.
What we were not sure about was if the thugs were armed or not.
When back up arrived, we had six policemen na sisi raia kadhaa na marungu zetu. One of the thugs shouted eti wasishootiwe watashuka to which waliulizwa wako wangapi. Basi majamaa wakainuka, mikono juu, watu wanne, three guys and a lady.
Surprisingly, the idiots were not armed but walikuwa tu na tools kadhaa for the job, I think the guys who were waiting in the darkness were armed though they avoided a confrontation.
There was no staircase so tukawawekea ngazi washuke. Weee, wacha mafala wafike kwa ground.
Watu walipigwa mpaka hata kuinuka waingie kwa gari ilibidi sisi mawatchie tuwabebe.
Kuna karau mmoja Masai alikuwa amekasirika yake yote, alipiga hao watu vibaya mpaka anazuiliwa na wenzake.
Apparently these guys were connected to a crew in our car who was giving them all information. The cops took their phones and checked their conversations, it led to one of us joining the group plus kuna wengine walikuwa wamejificha but wakati kuliumana, they evaporated.
One of the thugs said walijuana na huyu mwenzetu wakiwa nys some years back and they’ve been ‘working’ for quite some time.