Malindi bodaboda operators torch bus after killer accident

A bus that was set ablaze by angry boda boda riders at Kwa Abudu in Malindi, Kilifi County, after an accident. [Maureen Ongala, Standard]

Matatu operators have called for stiffer regulation of the boda boda industry to curb rogue riders who attack motorists and destroy vehicles after road accidents.

This came a day after boda boda operators in Malindi burnt a Simba Coach Bus Services vehicle on Saturday after it hit a boda boda rider along the Mombasa-Malindi highway.

Malindi police boss Matawa Muchangi yesterday said the bus was heading to Malindi from Nairobi when it hit the motorcycle, killing the rider and his passenger on the spot at Msabaha area.

Boda boda operators said the bus was overtaking another vehicle when it hit the rider, who was headed in the opposite direction.

 “The driver fled after hearing the angry mob calling for the torching of the bus,” said one of the boda boda operators.

Mr Muchangi said pleas to the irate boda boda operators not to burn the bus as it would be used as evidence were futile.

“They pelted us with stones before burning the vehicle,” he said, adding that the body of the 23-year-old rider was taken to Malindi hospital mortuary.

The Matatu Owners Association (MOA) chairman, Simon Kimutai, said boda boda riders had become ‘a law unto themselves’ and were escaping punishment for their crimes.

“They have become a law unto themselves and can blackmail and lynch any person. They kill people, they have a court of their own, their own laws and do their own cases, taking the law into their own hands,” he said.

 “They need to be regulated. They aren’t at the moment and that’s why they are rogue. They are not even licensed. They have nothing to lose,” he added.

Kimutai said the riders should be made to have valid licences, be grouped in saccos, and adopt certain colour codes for easy identification.

The MOA chairman said he was in Mombasa and had seen the burnt bus.

He added that it was time politics and the law were put into perspective when discussing the boda boda industry.

Officials from both the National Transport and Safety Authority and Police Service were not immediately available to comment.

In February last year, police arrested 24 boda boda operators following the burning of a matatu on Lang’ata Road.

In September last year, at least 100 people were left homeless after rioting motorcyclists razed 28 houses in Kisumu on a revenge mission against colleagues they said had been attacked.

And in November, boda boda riders burnt at least 10 houses in Mirere village, Kakamega County, leaving more than 50 people homeless.

This was after a boda boda rider was killed. Angry riders claimed that their colleague was last seen with four suspects from the village at a bar there.