By Joyce Chimbi
Nairobi, Kenya: Derived from border-to-border to depict transportation of goods between Uganda and Kenya, boda-boda riders (motorcycle taxis), once the only option in rural, remote Kenya, are today the transport lifeline of Nairobi’s busy life. With accessible, convenient, reliable, and affordable – rain or sunshine, you will find a boda-boda to get you there.
Night boda riders can still be heard in the dark, silent nights long after the matatus (public service vehicles) have called it a day. The zero-rating of motorcycles up to 250cc in 2008 led to an explosion in the number of boda-boda taxis in the transport sector, which preceded the establishment of control and regulation measures for this unusual public transport system.
Lurking in the dark, waylaying their victims, or riding up and down central and access roads in search of their prey – criminal elements and dangerous predators have infiltrated the sector, provoking and perpetuating hair-raising life-and-death situations. Their alleged crimes range from kidnapping, robbery, violence, murder, and sexual assault.
“I work for a restaurant in the CBD (Central Business District). On this night in June 2023, I clocked out at midnight and walked to Railways to catch a matatu home. Currently, there are usually many people along Moi Avenue, including hawkers. I usually alight at Ngong Road’s Prestige stage and take a boda boda to my house just behind the mall on my way to Kibera. A boda quickly came towards me, and I quickly jumped at the back, and off we went,” Janice Kendi, a hotelier, explains.
It was a very windy night. She lowered her head behind the rider’s back to protect her face from the wind when she suddenly realized they had taken the link road between Ngong Road and Langata. She alerted the rider, still assuming that he had misheard her destination.
“He kept quiet and stopped at the slope. We were now sandwiched between two police stations, Kibra police station a few meters backward and Langata Police Station ahead next to Langata Road, and my house was close on the right side of the road on your way to the Kibra D.C area. I knew then it was a terrible, dangerous situation. He took all my cash, mobile money, and my phone. He then rode off, and I had to walk to the police station to report the incident bravely. To date, my case remains unresolved,” she says.
Earlier in 2022, the screams of a female motorist brought the country to a standstill. A viral video captured the distressing moment of the young woman being harassed out of her vehicle and sexually molested by a crowd of boda boda riders along Wangari Maathai road in Parklands, Nairobi. It was in broad daylight, and many wondered out loud about the safety of women and girls during nighttime.
To improve the safety and security of all road users, the National Crime Research Centre has created a profile of the boda boda rider or operator in Kenya and the safety and security challenges that come with the sector. Nearly 97 percent of boda boda operators are male, and an estimated 90 percent are aged between 18 and 41. The Centre seeks to fight crime using research.
A report by the Research Centre shows that the most prevalent boda boda motorcycle-related crimes committed by the boda boda riders were causing death by dangerous riding at 79.5 percent; general stealing at 76.7 percent; creating a disturbance at 66.2 percent; theft of motorcycle and motorcycle parts at 62.9 percent; assault at 57.0 percent; robbery and robbery with violence at 52.9 percent; riding under the influence of alcohol at 52.7 percent.”
It gets worse, “possession and usage of dangerous drugs at 49.5 percent; handling and trafficking of dangerous drugs at 42.1 percent; murder at 38.7 percent; kidnapping and abduction at 26.2 percent; bribery at 23.1 percent; defilement at 17.8 percent; rape at 17.2 percent; smuggling of goods across borders at 15.9 percent; theft of Motor Vehicle and motor vehicle parts at 14.2 percent; fraud and forgery Offences at 13.0 percent; handling stolen property at 12.8 percent; burglary at 11.3 percent; motorcycle hijackings at 10.4 percent.”
The boda boda sector is a giant informal industry that has become difficult to regulate. The most recent data by the National Crime Research Centre shows in just one year, riders caused 3,877 deaths through dangerous riding, stole 3,774 times, breached public order and created public disturbance 3,328 times, and stole motorcycles and motorcycle parts 3,227 times.
“Triggered by the sexual harassment of the female motorist and the consequent public outcry, in March 2022, the Nairobi County government announced a new initiative to weed out rogue boda boda riders and bring sanity, safety, and security on the road. All riders or operators must be registered through their Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOs) at the sub-county level. On average, a rider makes about KES1,000 a day (about $10),” says Amos Kinyanjui, in the Business and Hustler Opportunities sub-sector in the Nairobi City County Government.
He says Nairobi would have a unique colored sticker to set it apart from other counties. Each boda boda rider registered through a boda boda SACCO would receive unique identification with codes enabling the County Enforcement Department and the police to separate genuine riders from rogue, criminal elements. Through City Hall, boda boda riders would receive unique biometric identification numbers to help sanitize the industry.
Although the government-driven initiative that the Boda Boda Safety Association of Kenya fully supported seems to have stalled, not so with Kilimani Boda Boda SACCO, which continues to implement the initiative. I met John Maina at his office under a tree at the junction near Yaya Centre—which also serves as a boda boda shed—sited among other boda boda riders waiting for customers.
Kinyanjui says the stall is only temporary and was occasioned by “a change in regime. In government, when there is a change of guard from one regime to the next, each regime will have its priorities and challenges to address. There is an overhaul of systems in general, from health to education and transport, and the biometric system for boda boda will be revisited. I am aware that conversations are ongoing with relevant stakeholders.”
Maina is a deputy chairman of the Kilimani Boda Boda SACCO which has more than 300 members. The SACCO brings together riders operating in eight Kilimani areas, including Yaya, Hurlingham, Lenana Road, Ngong Road, Chaka, Wood Avenue, Adelaide, and Kindaruma Road.
“You cannot wait for customers along this catchment area unless registered under the Kilimani SACCO. At a glance, we can tell if you are one of us. Your boda boda must have a visible small metal plate that extends from the actual number plate or at the front under the headlight. That metal plate has a unique color, and ours is blue. When one registers with the SACCO, he is given a unique number. That number visibly appears on the metal plate along with the stage or location where the rider would wait for customers,” Maina explains.
“If your stage is a Mosque, that will appear on that metal plate. The plate also has a QR code; scanning it will give you the rider’s full personal information. On your reflector jacket, we will have the name of the SACCO, the stage, and your unique number. Something like Kilimani/Hurlingham 095. Should you commit a crime and somebody captures those details, all they need is to come to us or the police station, and all your details, including your full name, identification number, and phone number, will appear. You will also see the City County logo on our reflector jackets,” he adds.
According to the National Crime Research Centre, the challenges faced in addressing boda boda crimes included weak law enforcement and regulation of the boda boda sub-sector, a culture of impunity among operators, and untrained riders, making it challenging to trace criminals. Kilimani SACCO works closely with Kilimani Police Station.
According to data from the police station, there have been no incidences of sexual assault or harassment since the year 2024 began. Cases of robbery with violence have reduced by nearly 70 percent. Phone snatching and theft have reduced from at least three instances every two days to one case or, at times, none every two weeks.
During the interview with Maina, a boda boda rider packed in front of us next to a row of makeshift hotels. The motorcycle he was riding had a number plate fitted with a slight pink metal plate, signaling that he did not belong to the Kilimani area. It turned out that Maina had seen the rider earlier in the day hanging around the area. He interrupted the interview and confronted the rider.
The rider said he had recently discovered the adjacent row of makeshift hotels serving hot meals at fair prices and preferred to eat there. He was promptly advised to remove his motorcycle under the tree as riders outside the Kilimani area were not allowed to park by the roadside.
The stranger was issued a warning and advised that in the future, they would call the police to impound his taxi for trespassing. He complied and moved his motorcycle as ordered.
“Eight months ago, the crime situation in this area was terrible—theft, robbery, kidnapping, and violence, and also harassment of women was rampant. You may have seen viral social media CCTV videos of theft and crime in Kilimani. People picked up their food orders and were robbed right outside their gates by thugs on boda boda. So, whenever you see a strange boda boda – one not part of our association- we immediately alert the police. There are hundreds of us, which means it is as if we are also doing patrol or community policing,” says Sam Ombachi, a boda boda rider from the Kilimani Boda Boda SACCO/Ngong Road.
Further stressing that “if you come with your customers from, say, Lavington to Kilimani, you should drop the customer at their destination and leave. You are not allowed to hang around. We will alert our leaders or call the police, and within minutes, they will take your boda boda. If I wait for customers with a reflector jacket or helmet with these details, and another rider is with me and lacks them, they will choose me because I can be identified if something goes wrong.”
Ombachi says if you have an issue with a boda boda on the road, say an accident, “you should take these details or just take a photo of the metal plate along with the bar code. That is enough to determine who the rider is should they ride off in a rush. When a boda boda is stolen, we must report it immediately to the police so that we will not be dragged into trouble if it is used to commit a crime. Do not use boda bodas whose riders cannot be identified. If I give my bike to another person and they commit a crime, the police will come for me to produce the criminal.”
When Hope Mwende leaves her workplace at a beauty and barber shop along Ngong Road at night, the security guard usually escorts her to the stage nearby and takes the details of the boda boda rider, “he does this for all of us because we leave late at night as soon as we finish working on our respective clients. It is an added layer of security. To make it easy, we only take Kilimani boda boda; he only has to note the stage and number. We have not had any problems or incidences.”
Since these structures were put in place in 2022 by the Kilimani Boda Boda SACCO, they have not dealt with cases of sexual and gender-based violence, and crimes such as robbery with violence that was once highly prevalent have dwindled to a trickle. Today, matters of fidelity to traffic rules account for many of their road user-related issues.
With boda boda riders accounting for the second biggest group involved and affected by road crashes, as many do not go to driving school, the association works closely with its members to ensure that they have the right skills to use the road for their safety and that of other road users. Their riders must have a driver’s license and proper riding gear, carry only one passenger, and adhere strictly to road traffic rules. They are also encouraged to be vigilant and report criminals who masquerade as boda boda riders within their areas of operation.
“This is essentially what the government had in mind. It is encouraging to see different groups of riders coming together and working with police stations in their respective areas to register, monitor, and regulate the industry. It is a cost-effective approach with so many benefits. First, they register through a SACCO where they save money, borrow, and lend to each other,” Kinyanjui observes.
Adding that there is “a financial growth aspect, ” all road users’ safety and security are accounted for. When they work under associations, it is easy for other stakeholders to come in and support them in various projects. I have even seen UN agencies work with boda boda riders to eliminate issues such as Gender Based Violence. The benefits are limitless, and such organized platforms are a force for good.”
“Those who have not joined any association should do so as the plan is to eventually phase out unregistered boda boda taxis. All boda boda operators have to work from somewhere or a stage. You cannot just take a bike and wait for customers anywhere you please. You pay to belong to a certain stage. We want these stages or locations to work with the police stations nearest to them to enforce unique identification,” Maina explains.
As this is a low-cost, home-grown solution, it has had more highs than lows. Maina says the only challenge is that it is not a widespread standardized intervention, and the road to ensure total compliance is still long. Still, he is encouraged as more and more associations are slowly but surely embracing the intervention. He also speaks of the need for road users’ awareness raising, as many are still unaware of these safety measures and how they can make the difference between life and death and significantly reduce risk as road users.
“We are discussing the best ways to raise awareness about why it is important to use a boda that belongs to an association and how to identify those who belong. There was a rape case involving a boda in the media from Machakos in early October. It is the area association of boda bodas that helped catch the offender the same night of the incident, and they are the ones who speak to the media and provide all the information,” says Maina.
“Members of the association rescued and took the lady to the hospital. It even turned out that the offender had already been banned from working in the area because he was not following set rules. These are the benefits of an association. We are not the only association. There are many others, and, in the next few years, it will be tough to operate as a rider in Nairobi without belonging to an association because we are the ones who are leading the process so we can identify you quickly,” he says.
Association members are comprehensively insured and wear jackets and helmets approved by the World Health Organization (WHO). Ombachi says that while they may not understand the WHO specifications, their leaders know the specifics of WHO-approved helmets and will recommend the best protective gear and how to access it.
“When you join an association, there is a one-off and non-refundable contribution that you make that goes into providing you with the reflector jacket, an identification card, and that unique identification plate number that is fixed next to the bike’s number plates. As a SACCO, we also have the full benefits of saving, borrowing, and support during hard times, especially death. We are not the only association; I have seen others in Westlands, Githurai, Kasarani, Nairobi West, and even outside Nairobi. Where else can we be accepted as members of a SACCO? We can only form our SACCOs for saving and borrowing because banks cannot give us loans. So, we give each other loans,” he says.
Maina says that the safety and security initiative around unique identifiers stems from these SACCOs: “The very first step is to organize yourselves around a SACCO, and then you start building from that. Decide the colors you want for your SACCO, and the SACCO takes charge of proving the reflectors and the other elements that make each rider unique, such as your number.”
He says that there is at least one SACCO in each of the 17 sub-counties in Nairobi, but the most significant challenge at the moment is a lack of public awareness of the steps the sector is taking to ensure their safety. The government has indeed mandated that all boda boda riders belong to a Savings and Credit Cooperative Society or SACCO. For instance, KRO Boda Boda SACCO in the Kibra sub-county has 820 members. Others include Embakasi East Piki Piki SACCO and Embavilla boda boda SACCO.
Meanwhile, he says, the plan is to phase out those who do not belong to any association and have no obvious unique identification to ensure that, in the end, only boda boda riders who belong and conform to an association’s rules and regulations can operate.
