He was a perpetual conman or someone who in another term we can refer to as a runaway 'confidence trickster'.
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| Eric Awori convinced the media that he had driven a car on reverse from Mombasa to Nairobi then to Nakuru and back to Nairobi. |
Wikipedia defines 'confidence trickster' as a person or group which after gaining other people's confidence, exploits the characteristics of human psyche such as credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility or greed.
Our confidence trickster, Eric Awori, seems to have exploited the naïveté of Kenyans to repeatedly pull a lie after another with nobody seeming to raise an eyebrow. For whatever reasons, he had managed to gain the confidence of his gullible victims.
According to Daily Nation that even sponsored one of Awori's 'adventurous con tricks', Awori started it all in 1985 when he convinced the media that he had driven a car on reverse from Mombasa to Nairobi then to Nakuru and back to Nairobi.
Waoh! This was incredible if not extraordinary and good fodder for any serious media outlet.
"Awori had told the press that he practised on 'private roads' and was keen on breaking the world record, then held by American Gerald Hoagland.
Westlands Motors gave him a new Toyota Corolla to drive, while many other sponsors donated in cash and kind as Awori prepared to become 'the first African motorist to hold a world record'.
For 'achieving' that feat, he was feted at a reception held at the Hilton Hotel, where he received the global award," Daily Nation recalls in a story published in 2013.
Awori having convinced everybody that he had indeed reversed a car for such a long distance, he was ready for his second and even bigger lie.
The Nation documents, that the conman "announced to motor company executives that he planned to set off another world breaking record by reversing a 7-tonne lorry from Mombasa to Nairobi".
The 'champion reverse driver' was to achieve this in less than 24 hours. And because there is nobody who does not want to be associated with a 'world champion' corporates, government and even the media came running to Awori as he warmed up to break another world record.
"For that DT Dobie donated a giant Mercedez-Benz truck which was to be loaded with building materials donated by Mombasa traders for building a new Harambee classroom.
DT Dobie also donated fuel worth Sh10,000, while Daily Nation reported that 'Mr John Miller, an independent adjudicator for Guinness Book of Records', had arrived in Nairobi," adds the Nation.
The publication notes that Awori planned to embark on his journey from Mombasa on December 11 and arrive at Nairobi's Uhuru Park on December 12 to attend the Jamhuri Day celebrations.
"Assistant minister Sharrif Nassir flagged off Awori on the night of December 11, but nobody knows what happened after that. Telex messages were sent to Kenya News Agency on his progress and final arrival in Nairobi.
The last one was from “John Miller” from the Guinness Book of Records “confirming” that Awori had broken another record," the paper writes.
After being celebrated countrywide Awori is reported to have travelled to New Zealand for 'Kiwi Autoreverse Rally' where he again 'won'.
But as the Nation documents, Awori never reversed the 7-tonne lorry and neither did he travel to New Zealand as there was no such event.
Though he was arrested for fraud, during his moment of fame he had managed to achieve three things; make money, become a celebrity and most important of all, fool everybody!