• Boda boda operations in Embu have been restricted to between 5 am and 11 pm in a bid to curb rising crime and drug trafficking.
• County commissioner Abdullahi Galgalo says police are concerned over boda boda riders' engagement in drug trafficking, defilement and other criminal activities.
Boda boda operations in Embu have been restricted to between 5 am and 11 pm in a bid to curb rising crime and drug trafficking.
County commissioner Abdullahi Galgalo on Thursday said police were concerned over boda boda riders' engagement in drug trafficking, defilement and other criminal activities.
The administrator said most riders were law-abiding and well behaved but that a few elements were trafficking bhang and helping robbers to escape after committing crimes.
Some boda boda operators have been accused of defiling schoolgirls while taking them to school, he said.
"From now, all boda boda riders will be required to start their businesses from 5 am and end at 11 pm when bars are supposed to close down," Galgalo said in his office.
"Unless the rider is handling an emergency like taking a patient to hospital, no one should be found carrying on with business after 11 pm because he will be arrested and prosecuted."
The administrator warned parents against settling defilement cases with suspects, saying such parents "do not care about the security and future of their children."
Galgallo was briefing journalists on the preparations for the August 24 national census. He asked all bar owners to close them down their premises from 6 pm to allow their workers and customers to go home and be counted.
"I am appealing to residents to ensure they are at their homes in good time to be enumerated because the census is crucial for the government to establish the number of people to plan for development," he said.
The official said security arrangements have been put in place to ensure smooth counting of residents. Officials tasked with conducting the exercise were undergoing training, he said.
Meanwhile, Gagalo warned those diverting rivers and piped water to their farms for irrigations, saying the move was denying many residents access to water.
"Those people will be arrested and prosecuted. We'll ask the courts to hand them tough sentences to deter others," he said.
edited by peter obuya