Vetting teams to be trained ahead bodaboda registration

A multi-sectoral team to conduct registration of bodaboda riders is set for a brief training ahead of the start of the process.

The team will include officials from the National Transport and Safety Authority, police, National Hospital Insurance Fund, insurance companies, among others.

The planned training prompted the suspension of the ongoing crackdown on the riders.

Officials said there was a need to have a coordinated approach in the planned registration hence the suspension.

The main rapid drive starts on March 21 for two months and will be done at all Huduma Centres in the country.

Police said this will pave way for an imminent overhaul of the entire sector, which is being conducted by the multi-sectoral committee tasked with the exercise.

“Enforcement of compliance of traffic law by public transport motorcycles aka bodaboda crackdown has been suspended,” the police service said on Saturday.

“This is to give room to the government to reorganize the sector through a multi-sectoral committee working on a framework of implementation.”

Police spokesman Bruno Shioso, however, warned that the existing prohibition of boda boda riders from the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) is still in force.

“The ban on boda bodas operating within the Nairobi CBD remains strictly in force. All boda boda operators and riders are advised to comply with all requirements in due course,” he said.

President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the nationwide crackdown of all operators following a horrifying incident where riders sexually assaulted a female driver on Wangari Maathai Road in Nairobi.

The Ministry of Interior further issued a raft of measures to help control the often-rogue sector within the next two months.

"We will begin with vetting all the riders. All riders must have smart licenses and you must all be in Saccos," Interior CS Fred Matiang’i said.

"Soon, we shall give you a bodaboda hotline where you can report certain things we need to know, slowly but surely, we'll improve this sector."

The smart card licenses that will be issued to all bodaboda riders will have NHIF details of the holders.

"This will enable the riders to get medical attention whenever they are involved in accidents, which have become a tall order to handle," Matiangi said.

He said the smart cards have riders’ details and urged all concerned parties to support the new drive.

“They will now be able to access medical services. We will not be asked to contribute to anyone involved in accidents to clear their bills,” he said.

He vowed to ensure the planned reforms in the sector are implemented to the end.

The CS said the bodaboda sector is one of the most critical areas in the country since it has offered millions of Kenyans a source of income.

He said not all bodaboda operators are criminals, pointing out that many of them depend on it to meet their daily needs.

He said on average, there are 22 million rides by the riders and if one multiplies it by Sh50, which is the minimum fee they charge, it comes to more than Sh1 billion daily that is realized in the sector.

He said the president had ordered the waiver of the registration fee of Sh5,800 for all those in the business to ensure all can be registered.

Matiang'i said the government will adopt the Rwanda system where all bodaboda riders will have jackets and helmets with visible tracking numbers.

He said a recent report handed to him on the business showed up to 60 per cent of the 2.4 million riders in the country are not insured.

More than 70 per cent of them are not trained on how to ride the motorcycles apart from the brief sessions they receive in estates and homes.

“There is no regulation on the sector and it is in a mess hence the need to conduct the mass registration and proper documentation. It is better to forgo the money for now and have a clean sector,” he said.