Boda boda listed in Oxford Dictionary

29 May, 2017

Recognition from Oxford but banned from Nairobi's Central Business District.

The boda boda motorbike taxi, popular in Nairobi and across east Africa, has made it into the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary.

The official definition of “boda boda” in the world's leading English-language dictionary is: "a type of motorcycle or bicycle with a space for a passenger or for carrying goods, often used as a taxi."

Nairobi's boda boda drivers, many of whom are accused of lawlessness and dangerous driving, were banned from operating in the city’s Central Business District (CBD) last October, under existing traffic regulations.

The boda boda mode of transport arrived in the Kenyan capital in the late 1980s or early 1990s and is believed to have originated in neighbouring Uganda.