On Wednesday, June 8, the Kenya Kwanza alliance brigade led by Deputy President William Ruto stormed the North-Eastern region to popularise his manifesto anchored on the bottom-up economic model.
The 2022 presidential election front runner William Ruto held a series of political rallies and economic forums during his week-long foray in the region.
During William Ruto’s visit, thousands of locals including vegetable vendors, boda boda riders who form the majority of the hustler movement turned up in large numbers.
While some of the locals turned to hear what the presidential candidate for the August 9, 2022, General Election had for them in-store, others were mobilised to show up to create a perception that the DP is more popular than his bitter rival Raila Odinga.
Among those who attended William Ruto’s rallies were the area boda boda operators who were allegedly promised some payments for gracing deputy president William Ruto’s rally.
However, since the rally ended last week, the riders now claim that they were yet to receive their token as promised.
The group on Friday, June 10, took to the street and held protests as they matched to Mandera Police Station where they reported a failed deal.
In a report by the Daily Nation, the riders claimed that some United Democratic Alliance (UDA) leaders from the region went missing with their dues.
“We were engaged by a Member of County Assembly (MCA) allied to UDA to escort the Deputy President from the airstrip to a hotel through the town but the guy has disappeared with our pay,” Yakub Abdi, one of the boda boda operators said.
However, a source at Mandera Police station confirmed that indeed the boda boda went there but could not book the report because the operators failed to produce a written document about their agreement.
“The boda boda operators were here but we could not receive their complaints because they lacked a formal agreement that forms the basis for the complaint,” the source said.
