Sakaja asks Nairobi traffic boss to crack down on reckless Boda Boda riders
By Mabonga Makhanu, October 2, 2025Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has directed the Nairobi Traffic Base Commander to take firm action against boda boda riders who drive recklessly on city roads.
Speaking during the Jukwaa la Usalama forum in Nairobi, which was graced by Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen on Thursday, October 2, 2025, Sakaja expressed concern over the increasing cases of dangerous riding, often happening openly under the watch of police officers.
“I asked very specifically, why would a police officer watch a boda boda rider going on the wrong side of the road or riding anticlockwise on a roundabout and do nothing? Can we agree to stop that and arrest these people?” Sakaja said, questioning the laxity in enforcing traffic rules.
The governor highlighted the heavy toll reckless riding has taken on Nairobi’s youth, pointing out that Boda Boda-related accidents have filled entire wards in city hospitals such as Kenyatta National Hospital and Mama Lucy Hospital. He revealed that he is a patron of a support group made up of widows of boda boda riders who lost their lives in accidents.
Sakaja stressed that while boda boda riders are his “good friends”, the continued disregard for traffic rules cannot be tolerated. He noted that many riders deliberately flout the law, emboldened by inaction from law enforcement officers.
“We are losing our young people. Some are riding with their legs up, some standing on the motorcycles, and others blatantly breaking traffic rules because they know they won’t be arrested,” he added.
The governor called for immediate enforcement of traffic regulations to restore order on Nairobi’s roads and protect both riders and other road users.
Murkomen’s proposal
These come days after Murkomen proposed that boda bodas should be organised into Saccos as the best way to regulate the sector, since the police alone cannot manage them.
While speaking during an interview on a local media station on Monday, September 16, 2025, the Cabinet Secretary called for urgent regulation of the sector, which is growing at a fast pace, making it hard for law enforcement officers alone to manage.
“If we leave this purely to the police, the police can’t manage the sheer number of boda bodas in the country. It will be required that we reduce it to a smaller unit,” Murkomen stated.