The boda boda (motorbike) transport sub-sector plays a vital role in ferrying goods and passengers. The motorbikes are versatile and can reach every nook and cranny, including places that do not even have paved roads.

This has become a lucrative business and a source of livelihood for the owners and their riders, and also a major player in job creation for the hordes of unemployed youth.

The riders provide an unmatched last-mile convenience, enabling people to reach far destinations. However, they have been increasingly captured by interest groups, including politicians, to sometimes run their dirty and violent errands as gangs for hire. They are also used in crime as getaway vehicles for robbers.

Several questions arise in such cases. Are the riders properly trained and licenced by the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA)? And do they have valid insurance?

The people also have to deal with crooked motorcycle lenders, who charge exorbitant rates and are sometimes suspected of masterminding the theft of the machines after the loans are cleared.

The national government has once again announced the mandatory registration of boda boda in Saccos in an effort to curb crime and motorbike thefts. The owners and riders will be required to hold valid licences, certificates of good conduct, insurance policies, and identification documents for themselves and their motorcycles.

Police are also notorious for harassing the riders and demanding bribes. The new regulations will just create more opportunities for extortion by the crooked officers.

Beneath such regulatory pronouncements are difficult questions of cost and enforcement challenges. This usually happens after a scandal, some fatal accidents, or mob justice.

There is, however, an urgent need to coordinate and regulate this transport sub-sector for safety and greater benefit to the owners, the riders, and the passengers.