|
Abstract
|
A common sight in many African cities is the motorcycle taxi transport, known as "boda boda"1 in Kenya and Uganda, "piki piki" in parts of Tanzania and "okada" in Nigeria (Oluwadiya, Oginni, Olasinde, & Fadiora, 2004; Solagberu et al., 2006). It has increasingly been the subject of international interest, following a TV documentary (BBC, 2016). Whether weaving through traffic jams to work, or ferrying small goats, chickens, stacks of eggs or vegetables to market, it is one of the most popular ways of getting around in both rural and urban areas of sub-Saharan Africa.
In Kenya, boda boda began as a bicycle taxi service in the 1960s on the border with Uganda, an origin which is echoed in its name (Malmberg Calvo, 1994). Boda boda has played a major role in enhancing access to transport, communication and commercial activity (Howe & Davis, 2002), especially in rural regions and in urban informal settlements, which are both characterized by poor road networks. There are now an estimated 500,000 motorbikes on Kenyan roads according to the Motorcycle Assembly Association of Kenya, contributing around 146 billion Kenya shillings (1.46 million US dollars) annually to the economy and around 2.2 billion (22 million US dollars) to the exchequer (Omondi, 2015).
However the benefits must be weighed against the public health and other costs, namely road traffic crashes and violent crime. This work sets out to examine the variety of public health issues raised by the industry, and argues that the case of boda boda transport is a cameo of the larger problems of Kenyan society. It draws out recurrent themes of vulnerability and inequality, and argues that interventions into public health cannot be seen in isolation from the bigger socio-economic and political issues, particularly in the context of Kenya's ambitious development agenda. This work should inform transport and public health debates and provide insights for creative thinking about interventions and policy from the starting point of the boda boda industry.
Language: en |