Boda boda operators in new bid to slam brakes on bike theft

Kakamega Boda boda operators wait for customers at their Equity bank stage on March 13, 2022. [File, Standard]

Boda boda operators are now mulling the establishment of their own insurance agency, among other measures, in the wake of the rising cases of motorcycle thefts in the country.

Under the aegis of the Boda Boda Association of Kenya (BAK), operators are also considering building a tracking system, which will be integrated into a new platform capturing the key details of all riders in the country.

The Bodaboda Information Management System, which has already undergone piloting, will be the platform that will be used to crosscheck genuine from rogue operators.

In an industry synonymous with crime, some of which have been meted out to the riders themselves, the lobby is now keen on not only repairing its tainted image but also safeguarding the welfare of genuine riders.

The wave of motorcycle theft across the country has drawn the attention of lawmakers, who have sought an explanation from boda boda financing companies. BAK Secretary-General Nehemiah Kinyua told Enterprise the Boda Boda Information Management System would be synchronised with the Ministry of Interior.

He said the industry employs millions of youths, and it has become difficult to tell a genuine from a rogue operator.

As such, one can steal a motorcycle from one area and operate in another without raising eyebrows.

“Since we will have one single system, it will be easier to say this motorcycle comes from this region,” said Mr Kinyua.

Mr Kinyua said in some incidents, some operators collude with criminals to set up their colleagues.

This is even as creditors and operators trade accusations as to who is behind the wave of thefts. Boda boda operators claim bikes are repossessed just as they are about to clear their loans.

Lynching of suspects

Creditors, on the other hand, accuse some operators of dismantling bikes and filing fraudulent insurance claims.

A recent report by boda boda financier Watu Credit revealed that a total of 22,826 bike theft cases were reported to the firm between January 2022 and January 2024.

These incidents have become so common that operators are now taking matters into their own hands, with cases of the lynching of suspected thieves on the rise.

Kevin Mubadi, the association’s national chairman, said the system will host every bit of information for each rider. This will range from the name, contacts, next of kin, the stage they operate from, motorcycle registration number, county, sub-county, and village.

“The system will help deal with cases of runway theft and crimes. For example, someone can steal a motorcycle from Nairobi or Mombasa, go to Busia and continue operating. When someone tries to search (from the National Transport and Safety Authority) system, they find it still under the dealer or creditor, but we do not have the real name of the owner,” explained Mr Mubadi.

In such cases, operators are not held responsible because they are not the registered owners of the motorcycles.

“But once we have this data, if someone steals a motorcycle from Mombasa to Busia, it first has to be registered in the new stage. And, when we key in the motorcycle’s registration number, it will bring out the name of the previous owner. We will consult with the previous owner to find out if he sold the motorcycle or it was stolen,” he said.

He added: “In case we are unable to find the owner, we will consult the next of kin.”

More often than not, when a motorcycle is stolen, it is asset financing firms that take the blame.

Watu Credit has not been spared from these claims with the firm’s country manager, Erick Massawe, describing the problem as a major crisis to their business. 

He claimed the reason why the firm is singled out for blame is because of its market share.

“On average, since our inception nine years ago, we have financed over 500,000 motorcycles in Kenya. We have around 50 per cent share of all assets (motorcycles) on the road depending on data you are looking at which ranges from 1.5 million to 2.5 million,” he said.

“Therefore, around 30 per cent to 50 per cent of all the theft cases or incidents would have to do with Watu customers.” Mr Massawe said besides having a tracker to locate the bikes, the police should have a designated team for the sector. “There needs to be a division dedicated to bodaboda like a bodaboda police unit just as we have cybercrime police division, which would work closely with the boda boda community,” he said.

According to the National Crime Research Centre, theft of motorcycles and parts is the leading crime committed against operators at 86.5 per cent followed by robbery and robbery with violence (85.2 per cent), murder (62.2 per cent), general stealing (49.2), and motorists causing death by dangerous driving (29.3 per cent).

Others are assault, kidnapping and abduction, mob justice, fraud and forgery, fighting, handling stolen property, indecent assault, malicious damage to property, burglary, rape, and sodomy.

NCRC has cited weak law enforcement by the police and other law enforcement agencies as one of the root causes of boda-boda-related crimes.

“The main perpetrators of boda boda motorcycle-related crimes were: bodaboda riders hired as casuals or on a commission basis, riders who hire motorcycles from owners, passengers, members of the public, bodaboda motorcycle owners, some/sections of traffic police officers, County government inspectorate and enforcement officers, National Transport and Safety Authority officers, and matatu drivers,” said NCRC in recent research titled Boda Boda Motorcycle Transport and Security Challenges in Kenya.

BAK Secretary-General Mr Kinyua said a majority of the motorcycles are not properly insured.

This means whenever the motorcycles are stolen, if they are still under asset financing, the responsible firms take longer to start searching for them.

This is while some of these assets are stolen and cross the border to Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia either as complete units or repurposed as spare parts.

Mr Kinyua said sometimes it takes up to three months for genuine cases of motorcycle theft to be resolved and operators compensated.

“We want to have our own (insurance) agency so that we can be giving insurance financing with a downpayment to the operators,” he said.

“We will also be having a second tracker so that when the motorcycle is stolen, we also do our own investigations as quickly as possible.”

Watu Credit Head of Commercial Chris Rumenda noted that in some cases, boda boda operators also engage in self-theft, where an operator hides the unit, dismantles it for spares or illegally sells it and reports it stolen.

“When information on a stolen unit is shared, they [operators] can mobilise and block all the routes in that area. We have recovered a lot of motorcycles through this mechanism,” he said.