Beware of Boda boda mafias

 

While he was busy reading the riot act to the unperturbed rider, he noticed that he had been completely surrounded by dozens of other boda bodas. 

 

They informed him that while the boda guy who knocked him was in the wrong, he also had to repair his bike, so each one should shoulder their won repair costs.

 

But my colleague swore how he was going to impound the guy’s bike. But one of them quietly said to him that if he ‘doesn’t see the light’, they (the bodas) might charge him with reckless driving, judge him and sentence him to a punishment of their choice, which could be anything from a sound beating, to destruction of his car, or even beating him to death.

 

By that time my colleague had indeed ‘seen the light’, got back into his car, and quickly drove off.

 

This kind of thing is happening almost every day, and if nothing is done those rowdy little fellows will be a parallel force. Which is why they are determined to resist being registered. 

 

And resist they will, ‘untouchable’ groups that claim influence in high places. Some claim to be protected by senior government officials, so you can be sure they will fight to keep the status quo.

 

By the time Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki took office in 2002, the country’s ‘matatus’ had started to resemble an organised crime syndicate of sorts.

 

The notorious Mungiki group, which would later be blamed for violence in the 2007 elections, had moved into the matatu business, and turned it into a racket, or mafia, if you like.

 

So Kibaki announced strict controls over matatus, who went on strike. For several months millions of Kenyan walked to work as the battle with the matatus went on. 

 

But in the end, the government won, and sanity returned to Kenya’s roads. When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of Britain in 1979, she was determined to break the hold of the trade unions on the country. They too went on strike for almost a year, but eventually they caved in, and they never would again have the same power again.

 

The boda bodas in Kampala are definitely going to resist.

 

They will go on strike and riot, and chaos might rule for some time. But they must be brought into order, and claims by political sycophants that they are voters are just hogwash. 

 

If they really voted as a block then Erias Lukwago would not be Lord Mayor.

 

And in any case, Kampala will before long be run by technocrats, not politicians.

 

So there.