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{
    "id": 1561718,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1561718/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 506,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr) Ojiambo Oundo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Speaker, when you visit hospitals, you will find that between 90 per cent and 99 per cent of injuries in emergency sections are, invariably, the result of bodaboda accidents. Something is seriously wrong somewhere. As a society, we must address this matter. We had hoped this Bill would address it. It got to a point where, in my own constituency, criminals were being transported by bodaboda riders. We had a discussion with the riders and told them not to transport anybody they do not know after a certain time in the night. They can only attend to an emergency and it must be a genuine emergency of a neighbour that they know very well. The way the riders operate, they are also extremely exposed to danger from criminals. They experience theft and even death. Many riders have had their motorcycles snatched from them when they are escorting clients. Many have been killed for resisting attempts to steal their motorcycles. Some of them have been mistaken to be robbers. As the public lynch a robber, they also kill the rider. It is in the best interest of riders that the industry is regulated. You might want to run it on lawlessness because that gives you some kind of prominence but, eventually, that lawlessness will catch up with you. It will not be one way. We beseech them through their national association. During campaigns, riders are given very prominent roles to play. In the last presidential campaign, the Kenya Kwanza brigade paraded them all over as the hustlers and the downtrodden. The coalition told them, “ Tutakuwa tukikaa na nyinyi kwa mezatukipanga mipango ya Serikali. ” Now they have become a thorn in the flesh. For their own safety, they need to be regulated. As they cause accidents and passengers get injured, the riders equally get injured. Many of them end up maimed forever. Sen. Bonny Khalwale’s Bill might be lost because he requested so, but we urge the State Department for Transport, NTSA and the National Police Service to find ways and means of regulating that sub-sector so that its economic influence can be felt. Security and safety must be paramount. With those few remarks, Hon. Temporary Speaker, I support."
}