Stop treating us like third-class citizens- bodaboda operators
The bodaboda operators have expressed concerns after a rider was murdered in cold-blood inside Mama Lucy hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
Daniel Mburu, the operator, died after an Administration Police officer shot him on the chest during a confrontation.
Members of the Bodaboda Safety Association of Kenya have asked the government to speed up the investigation in order to accord the family justice.
They have urged fellow operators to maintain peace and not engage in any demonstration as the case was being investigated.
The association also advised its members to get registered to reduce the notion where they are seen as criminals, which makes them prone to discrimination.
“We just request for respect from the public and government officers who look at us like third-class people,” said Kenneth Onyango, the association Secretary-General, who blamed the government for lack of training bodaboda for operators.
Died recklessly
He asked the government to compensate the family of the late Mburu. He also said that there were many other operators who had died recklessly and in many hospitals, yet there are wards set aside for bodaboda operators.
“We want to assure the government that will not fear. We will put up demonstrations of thousands of our riders until this case is addressed. We will not sleep on this one. Tumeuliwa wengi and as we speak, we are counting the numbers of our operators who are being killed every single day,” charged Onyango.
The Executive Director, Amnesty International Kenya, Irungu Houghton, urged that the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) to conduct swift investigations against the AP officer.
Mburu, 24, was fatally shot at Mama Lucy hospital after he volunteered to rush a young boy to the hospital who had been rescued while almost drowing in a River in Korogocho.
The young bodaboda operator was then accosted by the guards at the gate for parking his motorbike at the hospital’s casualty area.
The guards asked him to pay a fee of Sh50 which he did not have and therefore dragged him to the security office at the gate and summoned police officers. The guards termed him as unruly after which one of the officers shot him dead.