Over 5,000 Uasin Gishu boda boda operators are set to benefit from free safety training next month in Eldoret.
Okoa Boda Boda programme was initiated by Kuinet/Kpsuswa MCA Gilbert Bett and Community Disaster Management and Humanitarian Aid. It seeks to provide civic education on individuals in the transport industry with motorcycle accidents increasing by the day.
CDMHA chairman Joseph Wanyonyi said the aim is to educate and train boda boda operators on first aid, road safety, the importance of NHIF cover, insurance, savings and investment.
“Our main objective is advocating and empowering boda boda operators through civic education,” Wanyonyi said after meeting the boda boda riders in Eldoret over the weekend.
He added that they will partner with various driving schools, insurance companies and political leaders to make the training a success.
“We cannot keep losing young people daily. Some of them have no first aid skills and that will be the day to impart some skills in them,” the chairman said.
Bett said his ward has many boda boda operators and the safety training will give an opportunity to get more educated people on the roads.
“If we train these people on road safety, we will be building a nation. We have a mixture of different people who have joined the system and are causing havoc on our roads. This is the right time to begin,” the MCA said.
Chairman of Kibagenge boda boda Sacco Isaac Kipchirchir said the initiative will put the riders in safe hands and avoid unnecessary accidents.
“We are affected directly, from police harassment and from people we serve daily. If the majority of us can be trained, then we will have an opportunity to learn more,” he said.
