The trending video of boda boda riders harassing a woman in a car along Forest Road in Nairobi after she knocked down one of them has twisted the fate of many boda boda operators countrywide, some of whom depend on it as a source of livelihood.
In Bungoma town, the riders have complained that the law is unfairly enforced. They lament that they were grouped and dragged as a whole into the scandal instead of picking the suspects of the crime, as seen in the trending Tik Tok video.
“Boda boda operators have know-how on traffic rules hence adhere to them, in case of an accident report the incident to the police and leave everything to the authority,” Charles Wafula, the bodaboda chairman representing Referral Hospital Stage in Bungoma, said.
Wafula urged bodaboda operators to desist from taking matters into there own hands and instead report the incident to the right authority .
The governent, through Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i, issued a directive on 9th March, 2022, after a consultative meeting at KICC. The directive requires all boda boda operators to be re-registered into saccos and acquire smart riders license-a process that will cost each around ksh35,000 within sixty days.
As per the Head of State announcement, members of the saccos will be issued with certificates for identity and help to guide the law in dealing with crime, not complying to the set standards means that one will not be allowed to operate normally after the crackdown on the riders.
Rose Masibo is a talented journalist who writes light-moment, celebrity, entertainment and current affairs stories for the Western Kenya Times.
