Whoever said the National Police Service (NPS) was the most corrupt in the country was not far from the truth. A recent road trip from Nairobi to Thim Jope in Awendo, Migori County, with one of my pastors exposed them for who they are: professionals on the take.
At every police check along the 365 kilometer journey, the smartly dressed traffic officers would wave us down and check the road license, insurance sticker and any real or imaginary defect on our church van.
We counted over 10 police checks between Bomet and Mai Mahiu, a distance of about 170 kilometers. They used official vehicles provided by the NPS and National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) while others used their private motor vehicles parked off the highway.
Over 10 road blocks
On our way to Awendo, we were lucky not to be stopped because we left the city late, after 1pm, finding most of them on lunch break or having had their hands oiled enough by drivers of public transport vehicles, trailers and speeding motorists.
We avoided the big traffic jam of trailers, tankers, matatus and private vehicles on the Nairobi-Limuru highway- by using Ngong Road to the Southern bypass and then drove for about 10 kilometers before turning left onto the Ndeiya-Gikambura-Mai Mahiu road.
It took us through one of the most beautiful sites along the boundary of Kikuyu plateau, in Kiambu County, and and Ngong Hills, in Kajiado County.
Most motorists avoid the breath-taking escarpment road, which is mandatory for trailers and tankers, for fear of the depth of the escarpment that is not for the feint hearted. It meanders and has many dangerous corners, the road is narrow and drivers fear the frequent gridlock in case of an accident on the single-lane road.
The escarpment route is also popular with tourists who use its scores of viewpoints to take videos and photos of the breath taking views of the scenery, sunrise and sunset while others take selfies using their cell phones.
Traders have kiosks strategically placed along the escarpment’s viewpoints where they sell wood carvings of animals and traditional Masai wood carvings, shawls and other paraphernalia.
During our trip, we were lucky to enjoy light traffic going down the historic 21 kilometer escarpment road built by Italian Prisoners of War (POWs) during the Second World War, in 1942 that pitted Britain against the Germans in Tanzania and Italians in Somaliland.
Scenic escarpment road
In addition to the road that meanders along the escarpment, the POWs also built a Catholic chapel at the bottom of the escarpment to worship and pray for their sick and dead colleagues.
The chapel is a big tourist attraction along the escarpment as they head to and from Masai Mara Game Reserve, Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha and Lake Baringo to watch the world famous big five and flamingoes, respectively. The big five wild game animals are lion, leopard, black rhinoceros, elephants and buffaloes.
From Mai Mahiu town we turned left on the highway to Narok, some 144 kilometers away, through one of the most open plains in the country, and saw hundreds of cows, sheep and goats being herded by Maasai men, women and children.
Another sight to behold was the former Kenya Post and Telecommunications (KPTC) and later, Extelecoms, Sattelite Station, which was the nerve centre of all incoming and outgoing foreign telephone calls and telegram messages in the country during the days of the landline.
But the two iconic giant structures facing the sky have since the advent of the mobile phone in the late 1990s, and collapse of KPTC and Extelecoms, been rendered redundant and are white elephants standing like a sore thumb some two kilometers from the main highway.
We made one stop at Eror Kune trading centre along the busy highway to buy pocket-friendly priced fresh potatoes, carrots, cabbages, green grams, tomatoes and onions for our hosts in Awendo. We then drove past Ololunga, Mulot, Longisa, Bomet, Kisii, Homa Bay, and Awendo in Migori County, which borders Tanzania, to the South West. We saw Mt Longonot to the right and Mount Suswa to the left of the highway heading South East of Nairobi. They are favourites for mountaineers and hikers. Other trading centres that we passed through in Narok County were Nairage Enkare, Suswa, Olasiti, Duka Moja and Ntulule.
We made a short stop over in Narok town to have refreshments and meet a friend, Sammy ole Kenana, who had relocated his business from Nairobi to Narok after Covid-19 stuck the country last year leading to curfew, lockdowns and loss of jobs and businesses.
We then resumed our marathon journey to Awendo town through Mulot, in Narok County, Longisa, Bomet and Kaplong in Bomet County, Keroka, Kisii and Suneka in Kisii and Nyamira Counties, Rongo and then to Awendo in Migori County. I spent the night there at a friend’s place.
Awendo is the second biggest town in Migori County after Migori which is the administrative and commercial capital. On the other hand, Awendo is the home of South Nyanza Sugar Company (SONY), which is a parastatal under the Ministry of Agriculture, and is the lifeline for most farmers in the sugar belt.
The following day we proceeded to the home of The Omanjos at Thim Jope village, for the funeral and burial of Tim Omanjo, who was a friend and a church member at Nairobi Baptist Church Ngong Road. The village is named after a forest which was the home of buffaloes.
Our return journey the following day at dawn was full of drama with the traffic police. On noticing that the man behind the wheel had a collar and was not intimidated, like matatu drivers and touts, they would back off and say: “pastor utuombe (pastor, please pray for us).”
Toa kitu kido (give us a bribe)
The officers would wave us down assuming that the van was a matatu (public service vehicle) and step forward with authority to get their handouts. On seeing my 35mm camera hung round my neck and resting on my belly, and my pastor with his white collar, they did not dare ask us for “chai’ (a bribe).
At one stop between Bomet and Narok on our way back, one of the traffic policemen went further, after waving us down, to get closer to our driver, put half of his body in the car, like a giraffe, and asked in a suggestive manner: “Are you okay?” But we ignored that gesture and he got the message and backed off wishing us a safe journey ahead.
Not all the traffic officers showed signs or an appetite for bribe-taking. One of them, who waved us down past Narok at Ntulule, was very courteous and friendly. He enquired about our trip and then went ahead to inform us about a bad accident the previous night along the escarpment which had caused a major gridlock.
Indeed, when we finally reached the outskirts of Mai Mahiu, a dusty town which is at the junction of the highway leading to Nairobi, Naivash and Nairobi, we saw with our own eyes one of the most agonizing gridlocks.
We were then forced to use “panya (side)” roads through the dusty and potholed roads to access the Mai Mahiu-Naivasha road to avoid the traffic jam mostly of trailers, tankers, matatus, tour vans, and private vehicles heading to or from Nairobi using the Escarpment road.
Meanwhile, both sides of the highway were blocked by reckless and desperate drivers as they overlapped and tried to force themselves out of the gridlock. Others parked their vehicles off the highway and stood out waiting and hoping against hope that the traffic police would clear the accident scene and open the highway for normal traffic to flow as usual.
For close to one hour that we were caught up in the gridlock in Mai Mahiu, which means hot water in Kikuyu language, we did not see a single policeman or woman in the area.
At one point as we maneuvered our way in the narrow dusty roads in the residential areas, we came face to face with frustrated tour van drivers with their guests making do with the worst of the bad roads in area to get to their various destinations.
Most visited the world famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve, which has been named as one of the eight wonders of the world, and/or to their hotels in Nairobi ready for departure to their respective countries from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).
Desperate times
I decided to walk ahead of our van as the driver followed me reaching a place where we were sandwiched between three trailers on either side; a donkey-cart, several motor bikes and some pedestrians.
As if that was not enough stress, we decided to follow a station wagon car which was ahead of us to get to the Mai Mahiu-Naivasha road by driving over a hair-raising foot bridge over a deep mtaro (terrace) on the side of the main road which had no side handles.
My heart almost missed a beat as our driver remained calm and followed my instructions to align the wheels to the foot bridge as a small crowd of members of the public, boda-boda (motor bike) taxi operators watched with bated breath. It resembled a scene from a movie and/or a circus where gymnasts walk on a tight rope that is raised several feet in the air.
As our driver made the last move off the bridge and onto the main road with a sigh of relief, the crowd cheered him along by whistling and clapping. We then joined the few cars and trailers heading towards Naivasha town, some 35 kilometers to the West, leaving frustrated and annoyed drivers and passengers stranded along the highway heading towards Nairobi.
As we continued with our journey at normal speed of 100 kilometers per hour, it was refereshing to enjoy the beautiful landscape, Mount Longonot, the extended Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line from Mai Mahiu Station to the Metre Gauge line and station at Longonot Station, and the breath taking view of Lake Naivasha and the surrounding flower farms and tourists hotels.
Once in Naivasha town, we saw two traffic policemen with motorbikes stopping vehicles, as usual. For us it was joy to use the Naivasha-Nairobi highway, 76 kilometers, where we met many speeding matatus, buses, and private cars with a few police road blocks along the way during the one-hour drive.
On reaching Limuru, it was like we were on an airport runaway, thanks to the on going expansion and renovation of the highway all the way to the city. We turned off at Sigona to join the Southern by-pass at Kikuyu town, and proceeded to the Lenana School turn off on Ngong Road and then drove to our homes, respectively.
It was a home sweet home and a sigh of relief to end the journey with a word of prayer after the marathon drive and close call at Mai Mahiu town.
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