Webuye Class 8 leaver builds aeroplane-themed motorcycle to preach peace
A 29-year-old man in Webuye has built an aeroplane-themed motorcycle that he wants to use as he travels in parts of Western Kenya to spread messages of peace ahead of the 2022 elections.
Evans Musavi, a Standard Eight leaver, now a self-taught mechanic in Webuye, says he drew his inspiration from President Uhuru Kenyatta’s efforts to unite the country.
Musavi, a father of nine, made the machine from local materials that he assembled over time from scrap metal at the garage where he works.
So far, he says, he has used materials and labour worth Sh250,000 and does not regret building the motorcycle.
He has had the help of two of his colleagues at Western Garage, where he works, who helped him put together the necessary materials.
Though the motorcycle does not fly, Musavi says the sky is the limit in his quest to preach peace and drive around the region.
He says it uses less petrol compared with a normal motorcycle.
Musavi, who has not set foot in an engineering class, says he has always been fascinated by machines and how they work since he was a little boy.
“I have always been creative since I was a young man and if I had been lucky to study further I would have become an engineer,” he says.
Learn the craft
He sat his Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examinations in neighbouring Vihiga County in 2006.
But because he had no money to continue with his education, he started hanging around mechanics to learn the craft, mastering it as he worked alongside them.
Musavi says he was inspired by President Kenyatta’s decision to shake hands with his arch-rival Raila Odinga of the Orange Democratic Movement in 2018.
He regrets that even with the handshake heightened political temperatures ahead of the next General Election are not healthy for the country.
“My mission is to move across the western region preaching a message of peace, love and unity to our Mulembe leaders and locals so that we do not witness post-election violence like what happened in 2007 and partly in 2017 when many people died and property was destroyed,” Musavi says of his vision.
He believes that President Kenyatta is genuine about his intention to leave a united Kenya once he leaves office at the end of his second term in 2022.
“It was not easy for Uhuru to extend an olive branch to his opponent Raila that made peace prevail in the country. That is a gesture that must be emulated by everyone ahead of the 2022 polls,” he says.
On the motorcycle, Musavi has inscribed a peace message that he says everyone must adhere to: “Thank you chief commander for uniting Kenyans. Go on uniting Kenyans, Africans and worldwide. Every painful story has a successful ending.”
To keep this dream going, he says, he relies on well-wishers.
“I am relying on well-wishers to help me in moving to market places, homes and other social gatherings preaching peaceful elections next year,” he says.
