a shocking video of a woman being sexually assaulted in the full glare
of the public by motorcycle operators has angered kenyan women and activists
the police initially launched a fierce crackdown on wada border operators
following a government multi-sexual committee set up to overhaul the bada buddha sector
hi i'm esther aquila ogola the women's affairs journalist with bbc news africa
and in this video i'll share with you what we know about the disturbing assault how it has fueled
widespread condemnation and how it has reignited a long-standing debate in kenya about treatment
and protection of women we begin with what we know about the incident itself according to the police
on the 4th of march 2022 a female driver collided with and injured a motorcycle operator on
nairobi's forest road the female driver was later identified as a zimbabwean diplomat fearing the
nearby buddha by the riders who are known for attacking motorists the driver unsuccessfully
attempted to flee from this moment the video shows the woman in her car screaming and struggling
to push away the men who are trying to undress her while groping her as well and it gets worse other
riders order that she be removed from the car and stripped naked the woman was eventually rescued by
nearby policemen following the incident the police have arrested 16 motorbike operators believed to
have taken part in the assault and several motorbikes impounded the alleged ringleader
of the attack who went on the run for several days after the police announced a manhunt for him
was finally arrested along the kenya tanzania border on the 14th of march initially the
police launched a crackdown arresting of a 200 motorbike operators for allegedly flouting rules
however some operators say they are victims of circumstances due to the sexual assault incident
since then the crackdown has been replaced by a committee seeking to overhaul the entire
budapoda sector now remember as mentioned but the border riders reputation here's a little bit of
context they are widely used as a faster way to travel through kenya's notorious traffic jams
hard-to-reach places and for delivery services a large portion of their customer base are you
guessed it women the operators are widely seen to be laws unto themselves frequently flouting rules
and ganging up intimidating motorists even turning violent if they feel aggrieved many feel the
government needs to do more in terms of regulation and accuse the police of not doing enough
case endpoint the sexual assault video the police have been accused of reacting only after three
days when the video went viral their response they say they were aware of the incident and
despite the victim being too traumatized to record a statement they went into action and made initial
arrests now this entire incident and the fact of the assault happened shortly before international
women's day served as a reminder that women still do not feel safe in kenya for context the lack
of safety for kenyan women in public spaces and transport has been problematic for years
in 2014 women's streets protests dubbed my dress my choice while a response to weeks of women being
violently stripped robbed and sexually assaulted in the streets and in public service vehicles by
vehicle operators the reason the perpetrators say that women were indecently dressed the assaults
stopped only after the protest and the government went after the perpetrators revoking operating
licenses for entire fleets of public service vehicles whose operators were found culpable
of sexual assault it took three years before alan mccruling sent his three men to life imprisonment
in connection with one of the many assaults where they'd also recorded the incident and shared it
on social media but her sexual harassment of women in public spaces and transport stopped as a result
no many women continue to take to social media as a means of getting justice for assault in buses
taxis and in the streets but women and activists say these incidents point to a much wider problem
in the society rip culture and toxic masculinity are among some of the reasons credited with the
poor treatment of women in kenya women have continued to call for tougher policies stricter
implementation of the law and even economic repercussions to send a clear message that no
forms of assault will be tolerated just shows you how impunity thrives where sexual violence
is concerned how many motorists passed by and they did not do anything in response to the video while
making remarks during international women's day kenya's president ohoro kenyatta announced that
the government will take a tougher stance against the motorbike transport sector i've instructed the
law enforcement officers to use the instruments within the law to punish these perpetrators and
there should never be a repeat of what we saw for this is a blight on the entire kenyan society
kenyans have welcomed the move but they say it's not enough they want justice in all its forms to
be served and the motorcycle transport sector to be strictly regulated or scrapped off altogether