Blow to Makau Mutua’s campaign for ban on boda bodas as Ruto hosts officials at State House
President gave an amnesty to owners of motorcycles which have been detained at police stations and are not linked to criminal cases
President William Ruto’s Senior Advisor on Constitutional Affairs Prof Makau Mutua’s push for a ban on boda boda operators in cities and towns has suffered a major blow after he hosted boda boda officials from all sub-counties in the city at State House, Nairobi.
During the meeting, Ruto declared that the motorcycle owners are legitimate entrepreneurs whose businesses must be supported and promised to work with all stakeholders to enact a law that embraces self-regulation that will help spur the sector’s growth.
He also gave an amnesty to owners of motorcycles which have been detained at police stations and are not linked to criminal cases.
The President asked the ministry of Interior to work with Inspector-General of Police Douglas Kanja to have the motorcycles, which are estimated to be about 9,000, released in the next one week.
Prof Mutua has in the last three weeks been campaigning for a ban on boda boda operators in major cities and towns in order to return sanity on the roads.
“Let’s return road SANITY to Kenya’s major cities/towns by introducing reliable, clean, and timely buses (ala KBS), license LIMITED number of matatu who must have same model minibuses with same color (no strange camouflage and weird lights), and ban boda boda. No pain, no gain,” he first wrote on his verified X account on July 22.
He later followed it with criticism of the Boda Boda Association of Kenya for rejecting the proposed Public Transport (Motorcyle Regulation) Bill sponsored by Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, terming it a “dangerous cartel.”
“They want to continue their rein of chaos, death, mayhem on our roads. The only solution is to BAN them! They are a threat to national security, an ostensible militia. Regulation can’t — WON’T — work.”
Prof Mutua also escalated the campaign to mainstream media dedicating two articles in his weekly column in the Sunday Nation to the need to outlaw boda boda operations in major cities and towns suggesting they should be confined to rural areas that lack means of transport.
He said that while the late President Mwai Kibaki’s idea of zero-rating import duty on motorcycles of up to 250cc, which sparked the boda boda business, was noble, he inadvertently invited chaos.
Following the move, a motorcycle of 125cc came down to about Sh50,000 while that of sport 150cc cost about Sh70,000, resulting in an influx of boda boda operators in both urban and rural areas.
However, various taxes imposed over the years have resulted in gradual reduction in the importation of motorcycles with data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicating that only 55,200 motorcycles were imported last year, 73,300 in 2023, 192,600 in 2022, 342,200 in 2021 and 332, 900 in 2020.
