Kitale: Students engage boda boda riders in running battle after deadly accident

By , K24 Digital
On Mon, 6 Jun, 2022 15:01 | 2 mins read
Kitale: Students engage boda boda riders in running battle after deadly accident
Students demonstrate in Kitale after boda boda rider knocked one of their own. PHOTO/Emanuel Tarus.

Business in Kitale town, Trans Nzoia County was on Monday, June 6, 2022, morning paralyzed for over two hours after students from Kitale National Polytechnic staged a destructive demonstration against an incident where one of their own died after being knocked by a boda boda rider.

Thousands of students engaged riders in running battle and overpowered them, forcing the boda boda operators to flee from the town centre.

Students storm Kitale morgue

The irate student made their way to Kitale County Referral Hospital morgue after they chased away boda boda riders. They collected the body of their comrade and paraded it along Kitale-Lodwar highway.

Kitale National Polytechnic students demonstrating. PHOTO/Emanuel Tarus.

Addressing media outside the morgue, the angry students lamented that Trans Nzoia riders had become notoriously reckless in their operations, especially when using Kitale- Saboti road.

“Our comrade was on his way to attend Monday lectures. It is very sad that a reckless rider killed him on the spot. We therefore demand justice for our innocent comrade,” one student said.

They condemned the incident and called on the government through traffic officers to enforce traffic rules so as to avert similar incidents in the future.

“Along this route there are a lot of unqualified riders. Traffic officers should desist from receiving bribes from them and concentrate on enforcing traffic rules” they said.

They also called on the government to erect speed bumps on the road.

“This is not the first incident; many of our comrades have been left with injuries resulting from boda boda riders. We need bumps, especially around our college. The bumps will help reduce motorbikes’ speed," another student stated.

Paul Wafula, one of the riders, sympathized with the students saying that they should not condemn boda boda operators as a whole because some of them adhere to the traffic rules.

“I am sorry on behalf of my colleagues. However, we should not carry the cross of one reckless rider” Wafula said.

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