The daily accidents and incidents related to boda boda within the Nairobi County Central Business District (CBD) have become a menace not only to pedestrians and motorists but to the County Government of Governor Johnson Sakaja as well.
This has prompted the county to come up with measures to control the boda boda sector even as it recognizes it as one of the areas that have employed hundreds of youth.
Speaking to Nation.Africa, Tony Kimani, who is the Chief Officer in charge of Security and Compliance, stated that the county has been working on plans to reduce the number of boda boda operating within the CBD.
He revealed that 700 registered boda boda operators have been allowed to operate in town daily, a number he says is huge and becoming hectic to control.
The figure could be more than the registered operators since other operators are illegally operating in town, and engaging the city inspectorate officers in cat-and-mouse games.
Mr Tony says that the county has come up with appropriate steps to reduce the number to less than 300, a move he says will not be a walk in the park.
“That is a huge number. As a county government, we must reduce the number of boda boda operators within the CBD. I know that one will hurt most of them, but for purposes of order and dignity, we must bite the bullet and I have taken it to myself,” Mr Kimani said.
The county says that it has been having a conversation over the matter for a long time, even before the anti-government protests, held on the streets of Nairobi's CBD.
As it stands, the county does not have specific laws to govern the operations of boda bodas, a challenge that he says will soon be addressed.
“We have formed a boda boda compliance and enforcement team, where the officers are in orange branded reflector jackets with identification numbers,” Mr Kimani said, adding that the move has yielded fruits since the number of complaints have reduced.
Surprisingly, not any inspectorate officer in uniform would be able to arrest a boda boda operator for non-compliance, not even when they are around as the operator commits an offence.
“Not every officer within the county government of Nairobi particularly in security and compliance should arrest a boda boda operator, even if that boda boda operator is violating the law. That is not your mandate. If it is on Uhuru Highway or Kenyatta Avenue, some officers have been allocated duties there. If the violation is happening at that particular place and no officer is allocated the duty of boda boda there, that shows somebody is sleeping on their job, and I should take action against them.”
The move is also meant to minimise cases of harassment and confrontation of the inspectorate with the boda boda operators and allow the county to take action against the lazy inspectorate officers.
When Governor Sakaja came into office in 2022, he allowed the boda boda operators to work in the CBD, and allocated parking slots to them as he stated that the Kenya Kwanza administration was voted in to empower hustlers, and no one should be limited from working to earn their income.
In the previous administrations, boda boda operators were not allowed to operate beyond Tom Mboya Street.
To weed out criminals hiding in the sector, the county has come up with plans whereby every operator in CBD must join a Sacco for easy identification and monitoring.
“The industry has been invested in criminal activity, but not all boda boda operators engage in criminal activity. To root out these criminal operators has not been easy either for the national government in terms of transport and the county government.”
In the reforms, every Sacco will be required to appoint three officials who will work hand in hand with the inspectorate department to ensure that there is order.
If the measures are successfully implemented, the county will be the first to control boda boda operators.
Mr Kimani says that unregistered operators have come up with illegal slots, and even ride along the pavements as well as in the opposite direction.
“We know that some of them are riding on footpaths, and pedestrians have nowhere to walk. Some of them have resorted to parking their boda bodas on pavements. We have to bring order.”
The move has been welcomed by some of the boda boda operators in CBD, saying that it would bring order among them.
According to Mr Larry Juma, who is the chairman of boda boda operators in the upper side of the town, they have been engaged by the county on the plans to reduce the number of motorcycles in the CBD.
The operators have however said that there are more than two thousand motorbikes in Nairobi CBD alone, the majority of which are not registered to any Sacco.
“This thing will help us somehow because we have had a situation where anybody would come and stop between the parking slots and snatch the phone when the customer comes. We always advocate for our members to pick customers from the stage. At least, if someone makes a mistake, we will be able to identify them,” Mr Juma said.
Mr Juma, who also sits in the Council of Saccos in Nairobi County asked his colleagues in the industry to support the move.
One of the boda boda operators in the CBD raised a concern over the matter, saying that the move would see a number of them being kicked out if the issue is not handled properly.
In 2022, under the leadership of former President Uhuru Kenyatta, several meetings were held with the boda boda sector on how to streamline the industry.
The meetings were necessitated by an ugly incident in which a motorist was assaulted in Nairobi, prompting the government to launch a crackdown on all boda boda operators in Nairobi and across the country to weed out rogue operators.
The boda boda sector is one of the leading sources of income for millions of Kenyans, the majority being the unemployed youths.
