Court bars boda bodas from Nairobi CBD

Over 400 boda boda operators have lost their bid to continue operating within Nairobi's Central Business District (CBD).

Judge Joseph Onguto dismissed their petition on grounds that they did not prove how their rights had been violated.

The riders, who are under 12 Saccos, had submitted that they would suffer huge losses if barred from operating in the CBD.

In November 2015, the Nairobi county government banned all boda boda operators from ferrying passengers to and from the CBD with immediate effect. It said those found contravening the law would face a six-month jail term or pay a fine of Sh20,000.

On December 2015, Onguto declined to grant the riders temporary orders on grounds that he did not find any urgency in the matter to warrant the orders at the inter partes stage.

The aggrieved operators claimed that the CBD was their lawful operating place as contained in their certificate of registration.

The Saccos, through their lawyer Alfred Nyabena, wanted the court to suspend the notice of the county government issued on November 11 and further restrain the county government, the National Police Service Commission and the Inspector General of Police from impounding their members' motorcycles.