Let special police squad deal with boda boda menace

When a country starts the slow but sure slide into anarchy, it does so one boda boda at a time. At least this is the case for African countries like ours. These people are a law unto themselves. Even the law enforcement officers have given up trying to herd these stray cats and instead, have devoted their life to collecting fifty bob bribes from public transport vehicles.

When the average driver engages even in the slightest infraction of real (and sometimes imagined) traffic laws, a policeman will quickly emerge from the woodwork and rain hail and brimstones on the poor soul with the sole intention of softening them for a bribe.

In fact, our police officers know the places where drivers will most likely break the law – that illegal u-turn, running red lights, speeding and such – and they will hide somewhere in the bush or skulk behind other cars waiting for the law to be broken then they pounce on them. Ooh, and they are thorough when invoking the section of the law you’ve broken and the attendant fine or jail term. Of course, the only way you can escape such dire consequences is if you part with a few shillings. For the regular road users (read matatus), they pay a daily levy that allows them to break all the rules with impunity.

Not with the boda riders. These chaps break every law with absolutely zero consequence. The hapless police will turn a blind eye as these fellows zoom in and out of traffic, sometimes with a pillion passenger whose work is to snatch handbags and phones from pedestrians.

I had a nasty experience when I was accused of pushing one rider off the road somewhere in Kitengela and I didn’t even know that such a thing had happened. The rider with his fellow goons chased me all over, horns blaring and those funny LED lights they are fond of sticking on their bikes lighting up the entire road. When I stopped, they were ready to rough me up and one even suggested that they needed to teach me a lesson by burning my vehicle. In this instance, all ended well but such incidences are common and usually, they don’t end up well for most people. Yet, nobody gets punished because even the policemen appear to fear these fellows who know no rules.

I have been in traffic on a one-way road when you see a boda chap casually riding against traffic without a care in the world. Yet, he will pass a couple of police officers who appear more inclined to shake down other motorists, casually walking along the traffic snarl up inspecting insurance stickers and car tyres, looking for the slightest wear so that you can part with ‘something small’.

And this is not just happening in Kenya; I saw this same behaviour replicated in Uganda, where the boda bodas were born and raised before they migrated across the border. There are millions of these riders causing mayhem for everyone Uganda. I bet they are worse than ours. Yet, some countries have got it right. Rwanda (I have sung this song till I am hoarse) has its own version of bodas but they are refined. They wear helmets and obey all traffic rules.

The preponderance of this breed of people lies on the type of politics we practice. The bodas form a huge political base that the average politician doesn’t dare go against. They also come in handy when you want to hire goons to spread terror against your real or imagined enemies.

I would suggest that a special squad be formed to deal with this menace before they form their own militia that can even demand a breakaway state where there are no rules.

Such a police squad should mirror some of the elite police units that works, such as the Anti-Terrorist Police Unit. This may sound like using a mallet to smash a mosquito but this might be the best option today before this hydra headed monster consumes all of us.

-The writer is a communications consultant