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TWO INJURED, ONE ADMITTED AS TUKTUK, BODABODA OPERATORS CLASH IN THIKA.

One man is admitted at Thika Level 5 Hospital after he was hit with a stone by bodaboda operators who were denying Tuktuk operators the right to drop or collect passagers near the hospital's gate. 

Trouble started this morning when a Tuktuk driver heading to Thika town attempted to drop a client at the hospital gate. The bodaboda riders who   ply their trade near the hospital tried to deny him the chance to drop his client but he defied them prompting the bodaboda riders to attack him. This infuriated him leading him to respond by fighting back. 

The bodaboda riders pounced on him, beating him up badly. As they were beating him, another Tuktuk arrived and came to the rescue of his colleague. One of the bodaboda rider took a stone and shuttered the windscreen of the Tuktuk and in the process hitting and seriously injuring the client who was in the Tuktuk. 

Hell broke loose when other Tuktuk got wind that their own were being attacked. Within a fraction of a second, Thika Level 5 Hospital had turned into a battlefield. Tens of Tuktuk operators attacked and injured several bodaboda riders, eventually flashing them away from the vicinity.

One other Tuktuk driver and a passager who were caught in the melee sustained minor injuries and were treated and discharged from Thika Level 5 Hospital. 


In ire, the Tuktuk operators blocked General Kago Road for hours, vowing to evict the bodaboda riders from the place. The police had to use tear gas canisters to disperse the angry Tuktuk operators. 

When calm was restored, Thika OCS asked representatives from the two sides to report to the Thika Police Station so that an amicable solution could be arrived at. By the time we went to press, no tangible report had come out of the Thika OCPD office where the issue was being deliberated on.

Speaking to the Tuktuk organisation chairman Mr Ndegwa explained that this was not an isolated case. The bodaboda riders had been harassing his members by attacking them now and then, claiming that the Tuktuk operators had been invading their zones and ferrying their customers. He added that on numerous occasions these bodaboda guys inflated the tires of their tuktuks whenever they stopped to drop their clients especially at the Furaha Petrol Station and near Thika Level 5 Hospital.

"Whenever we report these cases to the police, they brush it aside and claim that we are the ones in the wrong. Ata leo hii tuliripoti Kwa OCS lakini hakuna usaidizi tulipata kwake," said Ndegwa.


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