"He sped off as if he was the very devil riding the machine"- furious Dr. Nyanzi on being conned by car hire dealer

Ugandan human rights activist and author Dr. Stella Nyanzi has painfully narrated how she was conned by a rogue car hire dealer in Kenya. 

Dr. Nyanzi is on a countrywide tour to promote her latest book of poems called “Eulogies of My Mouth: Poems for A Poisoned Uganda!” 

She was heading to Mombasa in a hired car [a Toyota Voxy] when its owner allegedly immobilised it remotely before coming over and taking possession - leaving her stranded. 

"Kenya has its con men! Today, I have accepted that the level of thuggery in Kenya is pure, concentrated and maximally calculated to rip off unsuspecting innocents without leaving them in the know," she narrates. 

"My poetry road tour to Mombasa has been frustrated by a so-called 'David' from whom we hired a silver grey Voxy number plate KDC **J for three days from Nairobi to Mombasa and back. We paid 6,500/= KES for each day, meaning for three days, we gave him 19,600/= KES. He insisted on being paid everything upfront.

"And so, we arose early and set off from Nairobi at 05:30AM. We hit Mombasa Road before the sun came out. Just as soon as we reached Makindu, the hired vehicle stopped completely. Everything died. We pushed the car off the road, got two local mechanics from Makindu who both confirmed that the vehicle’s tracking device had locked the car.

"We informed the so-called David, who refused to refund our money paid to him to hire the Voxy for three days. He lied to us that he was sending us a replacement car. 

"Instead he came to Makindu, ordered us to remove our valuables from his car, disabled the tracker’s lock, sat in the Voxy and sped off as if he was the very devil riding the machine. We were left looking on - totally angazi. 

We have been in dusty Makindu, waiting like idiots for the replacement car for the last six hours. This con man’s phone numbers are switched off."

Nyanzi says she was forced for her poetry readings scheduled for Wednesday, September 21 and Thursday. 

"Someone tell President Ruto that the hustlers are now ripping off visitors whose only valuables are poems," she says. Why con and hustle Kenyans out of the rare opportunity to listen to my resistance poetry? Why hustler man?"

Last Sunday, Nyanzi escaped unhurt when the vehicle she was travelling in was involved in a multiple-car accident along the Nairobi-Nakuru Highway. She was heading to Nakuru from Nairobi to share her poems with Tribeless Youth at Ubuntu Creative Space.