Motorbikes belonging to boda boda operators parked at Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi on July 25, 2022.
It was on November 22, 2023, a rainy day in Nairobi, when Ms Faith Otieno parked her motorcycle at a stage where other boda boda riders were at Gituamba in Kasarani to pick some children at a daycare, but that was the last time she saw it.
Ms Otieno had acquired the second-hand motorbike from Mogo Company on loan of Sh191, 000 and was paying Sh350 per day.
By the time the bike went missing, she had paid the loan for one year and five months and was left with less than Sh20, 000 to take its full ownership, but that was never to be.
Although fitted with four trackers, Ms Otieno said the motorcycle could not be traced and the company said that she must complete paying the balance.
For Mr Kennedy Wanjala, he had picked a motorcycle from Watu Credit on loan of Sh141, 000 and for two years, he was religiously remitting Sh300 daily to the company.
But, after paying 120,000 of the loan, the two-wheeler mysteriously disappeared from his Pipeline residence last December where he had parked it in the basement after work.
“I worked well that day, and had even remitted the Sh300 . I went to the house and parked my motorcycle in our basement as usual, but when I woke up in the morning it was gone,” Mr Wanjala said.
That was the start of a painful and torturous journey of following up with the firm, who told him that they could not trace his boda boda but that he had to pay the Sh21,000 loan balance.
These were among the painful and heart wrenching stories that the Boda boda Association narrated to the National Assembly Committee on Finance and National Planning that is currently considering a statement sought by Kigumo MP Joseph Munyoro on the exploitation boda boda operators undergo.
The companies named before the committee are Watu Credit, Mogo,Tugende,15 seconds, Mwananchi Credit and My Boda.
In a statement read in the House in February, Mr Munyoro wanted the chairperson of the finance committee to explain how the government plans to protect boda boda operators.
Boda boda riders sit idle on their motorcycles in Nairobi on May 26, 2021.
He said there are firms who lure the youths with ‘deceitful’ promises of low down payments and easy instalments, and that consumers are only hit by the burden of hidden fees, exorbitant interest rates and aggressive debt collection tactics later.
He also sought clarification on the measures that the State has put in place to regulate the activities of Buy Now Pay Later firms, including rogue lending institutions that violate consumers’ rights.
Munyoro further asked for an explanation of how the government plans to develop alternative financing models that are fair, transparent and genuinely empower boda boda operators.
In his prayers, he wants the government to come up with ways of protecting boda boda operators from financial exploitation by private firms that sell their wares.
As a result, many youths end up losing their motorcycles after they are confiscated for non-payment, rendering them jobless.
The Boda boda Association, led by chairman Alex Kutema, told the Kuria Kimani-led committee how they suffer at the hands of five companies who loan their members motorbikes that disappear without a trace, just as they are about to clear the loan.
The riders narrated to MPs how their bikes only disappear when they have paid over 90 percent of the total cost, and that the firms never help to recover them.
Interestingly, Mr Kutema told the lawmakers that when the motorcycles disappear within two or three months, the companies are able to trace them and hand them back to his members.
The association is now suspecting that the five companies collude with the thieves to steal the motorcycles just when the loan is about to be completed.
“It cannot be that when the motorcycle is stolen between three to five months after acquiring it, they are able to trace it and get it back to you, but when it is stolen with only one month remaining in the loan repayment, they tell you they cannot help you,” Mr Kutema said.
“When you default even for a day, they will call and tell you how they can trace the bike to a certain stage, and threaten to confiscate it if you don’t remit the loan by the end of the day.”
Mr Kutema said that although the companies have come in handy to help their members get employment by acquiring the motorcycles on loan, they have equally inflicted pain on them.
He narrated an incident where one of his members who had acquired a motorcycle on loan was arrested along Thika road, taken to police and upon interrogation, it was found the name on the logbook of the motorcycle was different.
Days later as the man was following up with the police, he died mysteriously last year around Christmas.
Boda boda operators along Moi Avenue in Nairobi rest on top of their motorcycles as they wait for customers on January 11, 2023.
Shady deals
The riders’ association told MPs that they never get log books of the bikes, even after the loan is cleared, they don't pay the insurance companies and are only given a single ignition key.
When acquiring the motorcycle, the association said they pay a deposit of Sh40, 000, which caters for insurance and tracker, but upon completion of the loan, the riders are never given the tracker, nor are they shown the insurance company or given the logbook.
The association told MPs that when they default in paying the loan for a day, the firms confiscate the motorcycle and to have it back, then they must part with Sh4,000 for the breakdown service, Sh300 charged per day for storage and the loan amount plus interest on the number of days they have defaulted.
If one cannot raise the amount, the companies permanently repossess the bike and the rider is given nothing and forfeits all the loan amounts they had repaid.
The association secretary general Ismail Abaidal told MPs most of their members even after completing the loan have to wait for two years in order to be handed the logbook.
“These people are on a mission, they take advantage of us because they know most of us are ignorant and don’t follow the law,” Mr Abaidal said.
Ms Faith Asibwa, the chairlady of Boda boda Association Women Riders in Nairobi said most of the motorcycles disappear at night and police are never interested in such cases, even they are report.
“Even if you park at the police station, it will still be stolen. I’m just wondering how come those that have bought their motorcycles in cash are never stolen? And why are our motorcycles only stolen when you are about to complete the loan? she posed.
Mr Kimani questioned the mysterious disappearance of the motorcycles, saying something was not adding up.
“Why do these companies remain with one key? Why don’t they reveal the insurance companies to riders and why is it that the trackers stop working when the motorcycles get lost after almost completion of loan payment? This cannot be a coincidence,” Mr Kuria said.
“These are glaring anomalies that were a committee we must go to the bottom of. These companies are making Kenyans suffer for no reason,” he added.
He said they will invite all the players, including the Insurance Regulatory Authority and Competition Authority, to shed light on the operations of the companies.
Mr Kuria noted that the companies have taken advantage of the gap in law governing the boda boda sector to exploit Kenyans.
“We don’t know whether these companies operate as digital lenders, hire purchase terms, bankers, creditors or dealers. These are the questions that we must deal with,” Mr Kuria said.
Ignorance
He added that the companies could be riding on the ignorance of the people by making them sign leasing documents and not those of buying a motorcycle.
“I think these companies lie to you that they are selling to you the motorcycle when they are in actual sense leasing it. That is why they repossess it even if you fail to remit the loan repayment for a day.
“Even Members of Parliament here buy cars on loan, and before you get to a point the car is repossessed, you must be given notice of at least 30 days, not one day as it is in your case,” Mr Kuria said.
Mr Munyoro said the firms rank as prime suspects in the whole racket.
“I’ve always suspected these companies because how do they know that you are about to complete the loan? These are cartels,” he said.
“We have failed this sector as legislators because there is no law and the criminals are taking advantage of this to operate using their own law,” Mr Munyao added.
