By Betty Luke
Hassan Wako Kanchu, an Isiolo-based bodaboda rider, was helping colleague ferry passengers from Garmala to Rangelands minutes past midnight but little did he know that he would become a guest of the court for three years and be jailed thereafter.
The 38-year-old rider was called by Hussein Guyo Wario while at home on August 29, 2018 and agreed to help him pick the passengers whose vehicle had reportedly broken down at Garmala and was promised Sh200 after the work.
But unknown to him, the quest to earn the money would land him in police cells and make him face charges for a crime he had no knowledge about.
The riders would two kilometres past Isiolo town at Ruiri junction be intercepted by a multi-agency security team manning the stretch.
It would then dawn to him that he was actually ferrying Eritrea nationals with no valid passes, a crime (smuggling) punishable by the law.
The three men and one woman could not communicate in English, Swahili or any local dialect raising suspicion to the officers.
Mr Guyo and Mr Wako would days later be arraigned for promoting the trafficking of persons, charges that they denied.
In his defense, Mr Guyo said it was not their norm (as bodaboda riders) to ask where clients come from and whether they have identity cards but insisted they spoke to him in Swahili while Mr Wako sought court leniency saying he did not know the passengers were aliens as only picked them as requested by his friend.
“Guyo asked me to assist him to pick the passengers and promised to pay me Sh200. I did not talk to them I just picked them,” Mr Wako earlier narrated to the court.
The immigrants; Betelihem Emanuel, Mahatap Kiprab, Luwam Beraki and Winter Gerebraham were all jailed for two months and repatriated.
The court while delivering its judgment found Mr Guyo as not a truthful and reliable witness and that together with Mr Wako gave contradictory evidence dismissing them as a pack of lies.
Isiolo Chief Magistrate Samwel Mungai October 1, 2021 found the duo guilty and convicted them of human smuggling.
The magistrate said the security of the country was threatened by foreigners who come to the country illegally with some engaging in terrorism and others drugs and arms trafficking.
The two were each fined Sh300, 000 or serve one-year-and-a-half in jail.
