Browsing by Author "Kondoltiony, E. P."

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    Boda-Boda Informal Transport Sector and National Security: A Comparative Analysis of the Evolution of Security Threats in Kenya
    (National Defence University-Kenya, 2026-07-24) Ngari, D. N.; Kondoltiony, E. P.; Maingi, G.; Machara, Lilian; Sidha, Zedekia; Masibayi, Edward; Njeru, Jacqueline; Kahiri, Esther W.
    The boda-boda informal transport sector has become an important part of Kenya’s economy by providing mobility, employment, and livelihood opportunities, especially for young people. Despite its socio-economic significance, the sector has increasingly been associated with insecurity, including robbery, theft, assault, smuggling, extortion, and other forms of criminal activity. Existing studies have largely examined boda-boda transport from the perspectives of mobility, livelihoods, and road safety, with limited attention to how criminal activity within the sector evolves from incidental misuse into more organised forms with wider implications for public order, institutional legitimacy, and national security. This study comparatively examined the evolution of security threats within the boda-boda informal transport sector across selected counties in Kenya. Specifically, the study analysed the manifestations and patterns of boda-boda related crime, examined the indicators that distinguish incidental criminal use from organised criminal activity, evaluated the socio-economic factors associated with such crime, assessed the institutional and contextual conditions that facilitate organised criminal evolution, and examined the spatial distribution, concentration, and hotspot patterns of boda-boda-related crime. The study adopted a mixed-methods comparative research design with a convergent logic, integrating quantitative, qualitative, observational, document-review, and GIS-based spatial approaches. A two-county pilot study in Nairobi and Migori was used to test the clarity, validity, reliability, field practicality, ethical sensitivity, and spatial-data readiness of the instruments before the main study. The pilot confirmed that the instruments could capture urban/metropolitan, rural, peri-urban, lake side, and border-related boda-boda security dynamics, while also indicating the need to strengthen category standardisation, skip logic, coordinate validation, and interviewer guidance for sensitive questions. The quantitative component involved boda-boda riders and generated data on the prevalence, patterns, and correlates of boda-boda-related crime. The qualitative component drew on key informants, focus group discussions, document review, and observation to provide deeper insight into the meanings, processes, institutional dynamics, and contextual realities associated with the emergence and evolution of such crime. GIS-based spatial analysis was used to examine the geographical distribution, concentration, and hotspot patterns of boda-boda-related crime. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, qualitative data were analysed thematically, and spatial data were analysed through mapping and hotspot analysis. Findings from the three strands were integrated during interpretation. The study contributes to academic knowledge by providing a county-comparative framework for understanding how boda boda related insecurity evolves under different socio-economic, institutional, and spatial conditions. It also generated policy-relevant evidence to support precise, proportionate, and context-sensitive interventions by national and county actors without criminalising the broader boda-boda livelihood system