Last week, two incidents involving boda bodas demonstrated just how rogue this sector has become, and the Government’s total failure to stop this anarchy.

In Nairobi’s Donholm Estate, boda boda riders burnt a matatu after it hit one of their colleagues and killed him.

The victim was overtaking the bus on the wrong side and was not wearing a safety helmet. 

In another tragic accident last week along the Thika-Nairobi highway, a boda boda rider died after a lorry slipped on a stone, causing it to accidentally hit him.

Boda boda riders mobilised and blocked the road, paralysing traffic for hours. Sheer lawlessness. 

In March 2025, along Mombasa Road, a boda boda rider got onto the highway without warning, directly onto the path of a motorist.

Desperate to avoid hitting him, the motorist swerved, plunging his car into a river. The boda boda did not even stop! 

Kenyans are thoroughly frustrated with the Government’s complete failure to deal with boda boda anarchy.

This sector has gone so rogue that they no longer recognise any traffic rules. They have created a culture of utter impunity, mob psychology, and sheer thuggery.

They now rule the roads. And they are everywhere! 

Prof. Makau Mutua, President William Ruto’s Constitutional Affairs Advisor, was talking for the rest of Kenya when he called for a ban on boda bodas in towns.

He rolled out a litany of woes bedevilling the sector, and noted that the boda boda culture is incongruent with the ethos of a modern city.  

What Prof. Mutua said has been stated before.

What was new was that this was the first time that the frustration being felt by Kenyans over the rogue boda boda sector was being strongly pronounced from the highest levels of Government.  

The failure by the Government over the years to rein in the lawlessness in that sector has spawned a monster that will soon be impossible to control.

Even more alarming is that a huge upsurge in new boda boda operators is expected due to the recent incentives to the sector by President Ruto.

This will result in an explosion in the number of rogue boda bodas on Kenyan roads.

President Ruto announced that prices of motorbikes will be slashed from Kshs 190,000 to Kshs 95,000, and daily hire purchase repayments will be slashed by a fifth.  

The Boda Boda Safety Association of Kenya has hit out at Prof. Mutua over his sentiments, saying that the sector is a major employer, and it empowers Kenyans at the bottom of the pyramid. 

The Association misses the point. Nobody has any argument with the critical role that the Boda Boda sector plays in Kenya.

Everybody acknowledges that. But the exceedingly high cost that Kenyans have to pay in human life to keep this sector alive is completely unacceptable. 

The Association needs to take a step back and do some deep introspection about the outcry over their rogue behaviour. It is their members dying every day as well. Don’t they care? 

They must address their dismal safety record and disregard for traffic rules. They must start talking about this publicly and exhorting their members to obey traffic rules.

They need the public, and they have to go out of their way to improve their relationship. 

As for the Government, the chaos in the boda boda sector is directly a result of your failure.

Given the President’s affinity with the sector, he must now take the lead in reining in the chaos.

He must tell the sector that the quid pro quo for all the goodies they are getting from the Government is a return to sanity. 

The Government must use the incident of the bus burnt at  Donholm to demonstrate that this anarchy cannot continue.

Arrest the arsonists and charge them. This will send a strong message that boda boda must obey the law.  

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