Boda boda
Gideon Punyua has been re-elected the chairman of Narok County Boda Boda association for the next three years after a competitive exercise that took place at Ole Ntimama stadium Wednesday.
Punyua managed 539 votes beating his close competitor Jonathan Nampaso who managed 282 votes while Evans Ogutu ragged behind with 165 votes. Punyua, who would be serving his second term, thanked the riders for trusting in his leadership and promised to focus on financial empowerment for the youths in the boda boda industry.
“I will look for ways of empowering the over 3, 000 young people in the boda boda industry by bringing like-minded people on board,” he said, adding that many riders depended on boda boda to feed their young families. He said one way of empowering the sector members was by establishing a cooperative that could offer loans and has a saving plan for the riders.
He also emphasized on safety training for all the operators in the county so as to curb numerous accidents associated with the boda boda riders. Thomas Nyamweya, a rider who spoke to KNA, lauded the smooth elections saying though it took a whole day to complete the elections but the exercise went on smoothly.
He congratulated the elected chairman and asked him to unite the sector by introducing new products that could boost them economically. “We have over 3,000 members and if we are united, we can start saving programs that can boost our livelihood. We are optimistic that the elected chairman will lead us to greener pastures,” he said.
Another rider Justus Mugeni said the re-elected chairman deserved a second term as he negotiated with the county government to lower the monthly fees from Sh500 to Sh200. The chairman was also praised for pushing the county government to build boda boda sheds around the town, which protects the riders from harsh weather like rainfall and hot sun.