Police officers on Tuesday, November 8, 2022, had a difficult time after they tried to contain irate Boda Boda riders in Kitale town, who had attacked a team from a microfinance institution that was on a mission to repossess their motorbike from a loan defaulter.
What began as a scuffle degenerated into full-scale chaos, as angry Boda Boda riders engaged police and officials from Mogo Credit in running battles, bringing business in the busy agricultural town to a standstill, albeit for some minutes.
Trouble started when the team from Mogo microfinance led by Barasa Simiyu approached Lesos Stage and attempted to forcefully recover one motorbike registration number KMFX 046E, from its rider.
The defaulter was amongst a group of Boda Boda men who were eagerly waiting for the hard-to-find passenger who would occasionally hail a bike to run their errands. But no sooner had Simiyu and team struck and attempted to grab the bike’s ignition keys from the defaulting rider, than they were met with resistance from the rest of the riders.
Police met with resistance
A brief push-and-shove altercation ensued before an avalanche of blows and kicks started flying from different directions, as the boda-boda riders defended one of their own from having his bike repossessed.
The commotion attracted the attention of Police officers based at the Veterinary patrol base who immediately responded and tried to calm the situation. But they were met with resistance from the unrelenting nduthi-men who pelted them with stones, forcing the officers to fire two rounds in the air to disperse them. Two officers sustained injuries as they tried to calm the situation.
In the end, the Boda Boda riders were dispersed while shielding their mate as they accused the management of the microfinance of high–handedness and being out of touch with the prevailing business realities.
