The headache of dealing with Nakuru residents notorious for Mpesa reversals: Lamentations of matatu touts

Depending on who you ask, matatu touts are considered one of the few people with a customer-friendly character. 

Some have gone so far as to describe them as rude, ill-mannered individuals who have no qualms about harassing passengers just to get their way.

And with matatu's being a popular mode of transport, it is safe to say that a good number of people have an experience to share of being at the mercy of matatu tout "bullies".

To refresh your memory, in September last year, Mtaa Wangu highlighted the story of Brandon, a resident of Tanners, who was robbed after showing the matatu tout his Mpesa balance.

During the pandemic, people adapted to paying for services electronically to reduce the risk of being exposed to the virus by handling physical cash.

Since then, the trend has gained popularity, as a result PSV's have adapted with the times.

However, the whole issue of using mobile money to pay for bus fares has brought out an ugly side that is turning the tables on matatu touts.

It seems the hunter has now become the hunted, with matatu touts now being the ones on the receiving end of the harassment, or as they say, scam, by passengers.

James Ogeto is a conductor who plies the Ngata route and he hilariously recounts how he was almost robbed of his fare by a passenger some time ago.

"We have the Pochi la Biashara option on my matatu and once people are settled and the journey has started, I announce the phone number to send the bus fare," Ogeto says. 

"This one time I remember I was going to the RVIST/Kabasis area, as soon as we got to the Kolen stage I started looking at the Mpesa messages just to confirm but then I got to this one passenger, mimi nimesema watu walipe na pochi alafu yeye ananionyesha message ya KCB alafu anasema amelipa," he explains.

Ogeto knew that the young man had tricked him, but there was nothing he could do as he quickly disembarked the vehicle to avoid further interrogation.

"Most of the time, my colleagues and I find ourselves in such situations and it is usually an awkward moment because we do not want to accuse our passengers of trying to rob us but they also know that it is very wrong," he says.

Martin Kamau, a matatu tout with the Highway Luxury Sacco, echoes his colleagues' sentiments, saying that being cheated by passengers has become commonplace with mobile money transfers. 

However, he acknowledges that the introduction of Pochi la biashara has helped to reduce the number of cases. 

"We have been forced to be very vigilant when dealing with passengers, there are times when you find they are showing you edited messages. We are now very careful and look at the time and date and also confirm on my own phone to make sure the transaction has gone through," Kamau says.

Alex Nyabuto* says he has witnessed many cases where people pay but reverse the transaction almost immediately.

"Whenever they use mobile transfers, you would notice that they immediately shout out the name that will receive the money and on my end, I would be satisfied and leave without actually seeing the confirmation message.  Most of the time, they pay just before they get off the vehicle and since I cannot wait to see the message, they reverse it almost immediately," he says.

As a result, Nyabuto says he now insists that passengers who pay electronically do so as soon as the vehicle leaves the platform to avoid any inconvenience.