Bobda Boda in Kenya operators gone rogue

Kenyans Angry but for How Long?

A disturbing video of a young female motorist being harassed and molested inside her car by rogue boda boda operators along Forest Road has gone viral on social media and in the usual fashion; Kenyans are angry!

The footage is terrifying especially for any woman who has watched it; “that could have been me, my mother or my sister!!” are women really safe in this country!! How a road accident ends up with a motorist sexually assaulted in broad daylight should make us more than just upset because this is not new, it’s not the first time.

As Kenyans, we have a weakness of being myopic, and our leaders continue to take advantage of this and have mastered the art of providing knee-jack, cosmetic solutions when there is a problem, especially one that has sparked a public uproar, then we are appeased and we move on! How easily we forget! and the cycle continues.

Matatu Touts Sexually Assault Woman

In 2014, if I may jog your memories, two women were grossly stripped and sexually violated by matatu touts in separate incidents, sparking a public uproar and even the popular #MyDressMyChoice protest.

Following the intervention of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the driver and conductor of a Githurai 44 bus, in which one woman was sexually assaulted, were charged with robbery with violence, a capital offence in Kenya.

Not much has been heard or anyone has cared to follow up on the case since then.

8 years later, we are in the same rabbit hole; this blatant violation of the rights of women cannot end if we don’t have a systematic approach to the menace.

Kenya has quite progressive laws on Sexual offences and it’s upsetting that women and girls continue to be abused in broad daylight even in public spaces where it’s always assumed to be safe.

As the World commemorates International Women’s Day 2022, the Ministers of Interior, Gender and Transport need to give us more than just sympathetic tweets on this incident, we need long-term solutions that will bring an end to these violations.

Matatu crew that sexually assaulted woman charged with capital offence