Bodaboda operators in Kiambu County have been asked to embrace Saccos to beat poverty and improve their living standards.
Speaking on Monday during the welcoming of new Thika Bodaboda Sacco members, Agnes Kariithi a business woman in Thika town, who is also Thika bodabodas Sacco financial advisor said the bodaboda business was a job like any other as it contributes greatly to the economy.
"Bodaboda operators in other regions have developed through Saccos and now time has come for those in this county to be empowered economically," she said.
Kariithi explained that through the Sacco, the operators will form groups of five at their areas of operation where each will be saving Sh200 a day to enable them access loans and purchase their own bikes in three months.
Speaking at the same event, Thika town deputy traffic commandant Boniface Musembi asked the operators to change their attitude towards their own safety and not to focus only on the monetary gains.
He said the operators have had a tendency of driving recklessly; overloading passengers with other involved in ferrying armed robbers, a thing that has tainted their image.
The traffic commandant also cautioned the operators against taking the law into their hands whenever motorbike theft suspects are nabbed saying they should not lynch them but instead report them to the authorities.
An additional 23 bodaboda operators joined the Sacco.