A civil society organization has allegedly sued the Kenya Kwanza administration for using the terms bodaboda and mama mboga for political gain.
Operation Linda Jamii said it has asked the Constitutional and Human Rights Division of the High Court in Nairobi to find the political outfit Sh426 billion and bar it from using the terms without seeking permission from bodaboda operators and the female greengrocers (mama mboga).
The organization’s leader, Prof. Fred Ogola told journalists in Malindi that the use of the two terms by politicians arguing that it amounts to stereotyping and stigmatizing the said people for having helped the Kenya Kwanza coalition to ascend to power.
“Linda Jamii has sued the Kenya Kwanza administration for using the goodwill of mama mboga and bodaboda without permission for political gain,” he said at the Alaskan Grounds in Malindi town Thursday.
However, the Kenya News Agency could not establish the authenticity of the court papers availed in soft form as there were no indications that they had been received at the High Court in Milimani, Nairobi, as alleged.
Although the suit was said to have been filed under a certificate of urgency, there was no indication that Justice Lawrence Mugambi, who is said to be handling the case, had issued any orders.
According to the documents, the petitioners in the suit are Bodaboda Association, Malindi, John Randu Nzai, Operation Linda Jamii, Public Interest Group, and John Ajiba, the Chairman of the Boda Boda Association in Kenya.
They have listed the United Democratic Alliance, the Kenya Kwanza Coalition, the UDA Deputy Party Leader, the Secretary-General, and the Attorney General as respondents.
Prof. Ogola, also the Director of Trailblazers Business Strategies, told the scribes that the Sh426 billion they were seeking was the worth of the goodwill of Bodaboda and Mama Mboga that propelled the current administration to power.
“We are asking the court to declare that Kenya Kwanza administration, their employees and everybody else should not use the terms bodaboda and mama mboga without permission until this case is heard and determined,” he said.
He led a section of the bodaboda operators in a peaceful street demonstration from the Alaskan grounds to the Malindi New Market.
Malindi businessman Karisa Fagio, also a member of Operation Linda Jamii, urged the youth to seek alternatives to improve their living standards instead of relying on the government to sort out the economic mess they are in.
“We have found ourselves at a crossroads because when we elected the government that is now in power, we had great expectations, but as it is now, we are worse off than before the elections,” he claimed.
Kilifi Youth Leader Jacinta Mbeyu Sanga said there was a sense of betrayal in the country as those who were touted as the main beneficiaries of the current administration had been left out, noting that this could be one reason for the re-emergence of criminal gangs in the country.
“This is the cry that we have as the citizens of this country; we want what is meant for citizens to go to the citizens,” she said as she supported the petitioners.