Lamu clerics want women banned from riding boda boda

Muslim clerics in Lamu want women banned from riding boda bodas terming it morally inappropriate as it goes against Islamic teachings.

The clerics have urged the county government of Lamu to introduce with immediate effect, a by-law that forbids Muslim women in the region from riding as pillion passengers on motorcycles.

They however said exceptions will be allowed in the case where the woman is being carried by her husband on their private motorbike.

The religious leaders drawn from the Coast Interfaith Council of Clerics and the Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya said it is against Islam and Lamu culture and heritage for a woman to sit straddled behind a man who is not her husband or betrothed.

They claim that while seated behind the rider, the woman is forced to hold onto the rider in a manner that is likely to spark immoral sexual chemistry between them which could subsequently lead to an immoral affair to quench the ‘fire’.

The women have also been exposing their body parts and specifically their thighs which is against Islam as women are supposed to cover their bodies and only show them to their husbands, the clerics said.

They claimed the situation has caused promiscuity among women using boda bodas.

Speaking in Lamu town on Tuesday, Lamu branch CICC chairperson Mohamed Abdulkadir said the number of women seeking to ride boda bodas for promiscuous reasons had increased in recent times.

He said the riders are equally responsible for increased school dropouts and teenage pregnancies as they have been known to lure girls with money and free lifts to school in exchange for sex.

“Lamu is heavily tied to culture and religion and so for our women to straddle behind men who aren’t their husbands is totally immoral and forbidden in Islam. That is why we want a law that will ban our women from using these bikes,” Abdulkadir said.

CIPK chairperson Abubaka Shekuwe termed motorbikes as the most unfriendly means of transport to be used by a woman.

He said in Islam, it is wrong and forbidden for a man and woman who are not married to be physically close like in the case of the boda boda and a pillion passenger.

The cleric blamed the increased divorce rates in Lamu town on illicit relationships between boda boda riders and married or betrothed women.

“Such transport involves contact between the operator and the passenger. The women sit straddled across and hold tightly onto the rider while showing their thighs. Its just wrong and we are seeking to stop it,” Shekuwe said.

He said there have been rising cases of married women eloping with boda boda riders and leaving their families suffering.

“Promiscuity is alarmingly high and as clerics we are concerned,” he said.

Lamu Old Town is arguably the most unique and beautiful Swahili town in Kenya, but the increased number of boda bodas is fast eroding the efforts to preserve its cultural richness.

The town was listed as a World heritage site by Unesco in 2001 owing to its well-preserved culture and heritage spanning decades.

The entry of boda boda among other factors is reason why the town has been put on the watchlist by Unesco and risks losing its status due to too much westernisation.

Imam Noordin Abdullahi of Jamia Mosque in Hindi, Lamu West, however said banning boda boda wasn’t an option and that instead women and girls should be banned from riding bikes to save the region’s moral fabric.

Currently, Lamu Old Town has over 300 boda boda operators.

-Edited by SKanyara