A middle aged lady at Githurai 45 has lost her household goods after a handcart operator disappeared with them during relocation to a new house.
Patricia Karanja says she had sourced the handcart operator at the shopping centre to aid her in moving her household goods from Githurai 44 to a new house at Progressive.
She said that she was not familiar with the ‘mkokoteni’ operator as she picked him randomly and did not even inquire of his identification document which could have helped to trace him.
Karanja said that she had accompanied the handcart operator to the new house in the first delivery and had left her sister to unpack as she returned to pack some more.
The mkokoteni operator left for the second round with her household goods worth Sh60,000 which consisted mostly of electronics.
She said that it was a while after sending the operator with her household goods that her sister called asking why she was taking too long to arrive. Karanja explained that it was after the call that she realised something was wrong and she locked her former house to seek the mkokoteni operator with her goods.
“I went to the area police station to report the theft incident after searching for him for nearly two hours feeling very confused and terrified on what I would tell my husband," said the shocked Karanja.
Githurai Kimbo OCS Hassan Pole says that there are several complaints regarding mkokoteni operators disappearing with goods that they had been hired to ferry.
He said that the residents should take caution when hiring such services either to get people they know or to ask for identification documents before giving the operators the jobs adding that it is also very important to have someone accompany the operators to ensure that they do not disappear with their goods.