The Mt Kenya Times 
By David Ndirangu
Worth Noting:
- So I boarded this ‘Mūcūgi’ to Matinyani that had been baptized ‘Njoo Nazo’. I was not lucky enough to get a seat so I took my position on the isle facing backwards as required. In absence of ‘Michuki Rules’, these vehicles used to seriously overload, play very loud music (for some reason the music from that side of the world sounds like half the length of the song is taken up by the climax).
- In addition, smoking those days had not been banned in matatus. So the makanga and several of the passengers were busy enjoying their cigarettes. Behind me in the isle was a lady who I guess was on her way home from town accompanied by her two sheep.
Many years ago, there is a time I decided to go visit my Sister Hannah at some place called Matinyani in Kitui District (Now Kitui County) where she had been posted as a newly trained teacher. It was actually my first time to travel to that side of the country. Those days, the main mode of transport from Kitui town to Matinyani was some version of Mitsubishi (some people of Murima used to call them Mūcūgi) Canter matatus with a cabin separate from a built body that had only one door at the rear. The seating arrangement comprised long benches along the sides of the enclosure except for the side with the door. There were two metal bars fixed to the ceiling for extra passengers to hang on. That time ‘Michuki the Great’ had not yet invented the famous ‘Michuki Rules for Public transport’ and the Matinyani Matatus were a perfect example of bad manners. After making sure that all the available space on the benches were occupied, the extra passengers were instructed to perch on the metal bars while arranged so close that there was actually no space between them. One had to half- stand-half- bend while facing the direction the vehicle was coming from. For some reason whoever designed those contraptions had set the ceiling a bit too low for an average human being.
So I boarded this ‘Mūcūgi’ to Matinyani that had been baptized ‘Njoo Nazo’. I was not lucky enough to get a seat so I took my position on the isle facing backwards as required. In absence of ‘Michuki Rules’, these vehicles used to seriously overload, play very loud music (for some reason the music from that side of the world sounds like half the length of the song is taken up by the climax). In addition, smoking those days had not been banned in matatus. So the makanga and several of the passengers were busy enjoying their cigarettes. Behind me in the isle was a lady who I guess was on her way home from town accompanied by her two sheep. Then I heard the makanga shouting at me something like, ‘We mutumia, syoka na itina’. When I looked at him blankly he repeated the same this time even gesticulating with the hands. I guess my anger showed clearly on my face but it was time for the fellow to look at me blankly and wonder what was wrong with me. Had my hands not been busy supporting me, I would have committed a crime. Let me explain.
It is said that the people of Murima and Wakamba are cousins. It is therefore easy to somehow connect what one is saying in the other’s language even though not every word. I n my language ‘mutumia’ is a woman. So this makanga guy had decided to call me a woman even with my well groomed black moustache. Secondly, where I come from you should not go throwing about the word ‘itina’ carelessly all over the place. It means buttocks. I was therefore every mad that this fellow had decided to call me a woman and then shamelessly shout that I should move ‘towards the buttocks.’ New place, strange people, uncomfortable conditions,…I didn’t do anything.
I thereafter met a friendly makanga guy in Matinyani called Alex Kinyamasyo. After I had lamented to him how rude his colleagues were, he just laughed and explained to me that ‘mutumia’ in their language is used to respectfully address a man and ‘itina’ simply means back. So my ‘Njoo Nazo’ makanga was simply telling me something like ‘hey man, move back’ but I had gotten it all wrong resulting in the conflict. Use of the same words that mean totally different things in different languages can cause disagreements. Disagreements lead to disputes which lead to conflict which can escalate to fights or war.
The two fellows in the caricature above got into a fierce fight because one was seeing four blocks of wood while the other one three depending on where one was standing. Their conflict was as a result of them seeing the same thing differently. We all see the world using our own lenses and that makes conflict inevitable in the society.
In the above examples, the role of the Professional Mediator would be to assist the disputing parties to appreciate the other party’s perspective. This would be done through a technique called “Role Reversal” that is, ‘putting oneself in the shoes of the other.’ This might be taken in a metaphorical sense but at times it calls for the parties to literally exchange seats during the mediation process. It provides the parties an opportunity to exercise empathy.
David Ndirangu BSc. CPA (K). Certified Professional Mediator. Email: ndirangudavid2023@gmail.com
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