The hate and vitriol that a matatu conductor gets is probably even more than that of our corrupt politicians. They are on the list of shame for most Kenyans over how they treat their clients.
But one conductor decided to the right thing, the hard thing. His name is David Mwaura and he did something remarkable and unimaginable. He returned back 30 thousand shillings to a customer. Man! In this economy!
Daniel Mwaura’s act of returning money left by a customer in his vehicle on Friday morning went viral online. He operates on the Gachie – city centre route.
Nairobi News got some quotes from the man. The father of one, who is expecting his second child said:
“MY FIRST REACTION WAS THAT THE OWNER MUST HAVE BEEN DEVASTATED AND SO I INFORMED MY EMPLOYER AND DEPOSITED THE WALLET WITH ONLY SH300 AT THE OFFICE, TELLING THEM TO NOTIFY ME IF ANYONE COMES TO CLAIM THE IT.”
A day after he had surrendered the wallet, he was called from the office and told that the owner of the wallet had shown up. The owner Stanley had to prove that the wallet was his. He said:
“I TOLD STANLEY (THE OWNER OF THE WALLET) TO CROSS OVER TO OUR FIRE STATION STAGE (ON TOM MBOYA STREET) WHERE I HAD JUST ARRIVED. WHEN WE MET I COULD SEE HE WAS THE SAME PERSON WHOSE PHOTO WAS ON THE ID. I ASKED HIM WHAT ELSE WAS IN HIS WALLET AND WHEN HE GAVE ME THE EXACT AMOUNT AS SH30, 000, I SURRENDERED THE MONEY THAT I HAD BEEN CARRYING AROUND JUST IN CASE THE OWNER CLAIMS IT,” MWAURA NARRATED.”
Stanley reportedly explained to Mwaura that the money was meant for his sick child’s hospital bill. This story reminds me of the Chokora who found money on the street. The street urchin called Vince Dancer gave back 200,000 shillings to a stranger who dropped it on the street. The kid’s image is below:
