Catcalling is widely associated with sexual harassment but in Machakos town, it has been normalised. It is used by a gang of mechanics targeting gullible motorists to con.
Glogon is a busy section of the town along Machakos-Kitui road, It is set aside for jua kali artisans. Motorists driving through the area have to contend with catcalls and waving from the cons from the roadside.
They are draped with oily overalls and constantly looking over their shoulders. The youthful ‘mechanics’ who either work in pairs of groups of three try to get the attention of random motorists while animatedly pointing to a part of the vehicle.
Innocent motorists who fall for their tricks will pay expensively for air as the mechanics remove parts of the vehicles and return them despite charging for new ones.
According to Nation.Africa, the cons work in a groups with selected motor vehicle spare dealers. Safe in the security of their numbers, they exude an air of impunity.
Several motorists especially women have fallen prey to these con men.
Most report such incidences to the police while others publish their experiences on social media.
Reports say that when an unsuspecting motorist responds to the catcalls, two or three men approach them and tell them their wheel is loose. They then start fixing it before the driver accepts the deal.
While at it, the con men discover other parts in ‘bad condition.’ They then recommend replacement with new ones to avoid bigger problems.
This is what befell one Mary Kyalo, a teacher when she was posted to a school a year ago.
“Three friendly looking men approached me and pointed at my front wheels saying it was loose and needed fixing. They offered to do the job at Sh. 200. They then said they have ‘discovered’ more problems underneath the car, they said the bushings are badly worn out, they led me to a nearby spares shop that charged Sh. 4000 for brand new bushings,” said Mary.
She said trouble began when she noticed that they had spilled oil under the car to create an impression that the engine had leaked, and wanted Ksh 9000 to fix it. Mary created alarm then a friend who was aware of the trickery responded and the men vanished.
Several sources say one is sure when the con mechanics started this, they however suspect the rapid growth of Machakos town led to it.
“The late retired President Arap Moi allocated four acres of land to jua kali artisans at Glogon in 1984. Since the two has ran out of space to accommodate the new mechanics, they are forced to work on the roadsides. This is how the mechanics attract rogue elements,” said Abednego Mwandi, the secretary general of the association of jua kali artisans in the county.
Amidst the outcry over the fraudulent activity, Machakos Governor Dr. Alfred Mutua’s administration in 2019 gave roadside mechanics a yard on the side of Iveti hills.
They had a simple thinking, getting the mechanics from the roadsides and registering them to make it easier to weed out the cons.
Genuine mechanics named the new yard Haki Jua Kali Mechanics to draw a moral compass and distinguish them from the cons. However, the interventions didn’t help.
Some of the cons own stalls in the yards. They report in the morning then leave for their work station near the bus station. Haki Jua Kali Mechanics chairman, Henry Musyoki has said the group are a bunch of rotten apples giving them a bad name.
The cons according to the chair man have devised new ways of conning the motorists, they lie that the government had relocated the rogue mechanics and therefore they are the real deal.
Machakos Sub-County Police Commander Moss Ndiwa has acknowledged the security threats posed by the con mechanics. But he said that the victims rarely report to the police.
Police conduct a crack down on the rogue mechanics once in a while but none has been charged.