Outcry as county askaris hunt down Superbike riders in Nairobi’s CBD
Superbike riders were on Wednesday evening not spared in a heightened operation by the Nairobi County government to rid the city’s Central Business District of motorbikes.
Activist Boniface Mwangi had to dodge council askaris several times as they arrested every rider in town.
Mwangi, who owns a superbike, had rode to the CBD and questioned why the city council askaris were targeting private bikers.
The county government has banned all boda bodas from the CBD and only allows courier services and private bikers entry into the CBD.
ARRESTS
According to Mwangi, those arrested in Wednesday’s swoop were being asked to part with Sh5,000 on the spot or Sh25,000 in court.
One Twitter user by the name Mwendwa lamented, “They arrested my rider even though his bike had seasonal parking ticket and a courier box with clear @ExecutiveBoda branding. He told me he had to part with KES. 300. This city is a venereal disease.”
A certain Ngoche wrote, “This has been happening for some time now, they set a base near Hilton and harass even those without boda boda… what are they charged with?” while Bernard said, “At milimani court was finned 25k I bribed with 10k got receipt of 2k.”