President William Ruto on Monday launched an initiative that seeks to train, register, license and provide medical cover for the more than 1.8 million boda boda riders in Kenya.

Speaking during the launch at KICC in Nairobi, Ruto said phase one of the Bodaboda Empowerment Program will see 200,000 riders from all the 47 counties receive training.

The ambitious initiative will also see the riders trained on first aid and register into Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) to access affordable credit and for easier management.

“I don’t want politics in boda boda business. Let’s keep politics away from boda boda business. The time for politics will come, but for now let’s empower these boda boda riders,” said President Ruto.

Ruto called for better collaboration between the boda boda riders and all the relevant government agencies to tame the alarming deaths on the road linked to boda boda riders.

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He noted that out of the 20,803 people involved in road accidents on roads across Kenya in 2022, 4,515 deaths were reported with boda boda accounting for a total of 2,300 deaths.


He revealed that government statistics showed that of the 2,300 boda boda deaths, 1,620 were persons hit by motorcycles, 1,209 were boda riders, and 120 were pillion passengers.

Ruto blamed most boda accidents on lack of training and unlicensed riders and intimated that the Bodaboda Care initiative launched on Monday will help tame such road carnage.

He ordered Transport CS Kipchumba Murkomen to work with the National Youth Service, Governors and MPs to reduce boda boda training and licensing fees from current Sh8,000 and Sh3,050 respectively, to not more than Sh2,500 combined to encourage compliance.

The president revealed that 10,000 electric motorcycles had already landed in the country and that the Government was targeting to bring in a total of 100,000 such motorcycles by December to reduce reliance on petrol and also to reduce carbon emissions by the vibrant transportation sector.


Murkomen pledged to push for compliance to the training, licencing and registration into SACCOs by all boda boda operators in the interest of safety and standards on the roads.

Health CS Susan Nakhumicha committed to come up with better ways of identifying and registering all boda boda operators for NHIF to guarantee them affordable health care.

And on his part, Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja revealed that training centers will be availed in Waithaka, Dandora and Mathare among others to ensure compliance in Nairobi.


However, he urged for cooperation between counties and the Ministry of Transport to tame flagrant violation of traffic rules by some errant boda boda operators in Nairobi County.

The boda boda industry contributes Sh350 billion into the Kenyan economy annually and the government says the initiative will help it transform into a safe, sustainable and reliable transportation system.