A group in Kenya beat up an unnamed Nigerian man after he attacked a female Bolt driver in Kenya. A woman who said she was the driver’s daughter said this on X (formerly Twitter). Bolt also confirmed the story by saying that the Kenyan police are investigating the case.
The victim’s daughter says the Nigerian man called the taxi through the Bolt app on Saturday night near Viraj International Academy in Mlolongo, along Katani Road, near where he was staying. As soon as the trip started, the alleged attacker allegedly became angry at the driver and began attacking her.
The man is said to have struck the woman driver, whose name is only Lillian, with a rock and a broken soda bottle, hitting her head repeatedly. Because of the lousy attack, Lillian lost control of her car, which went off the road and ended up in a pit.
During the chaos, the Bolt driver quickly exited the car to get to safety. People from the neighbourhood came to see what was going on. The driver’s daughter says the mob beat the attacker until he was in a coma. After that, Kenyan police officers came and saved him.
This injured the female driver. She is recovering at Aga Khan Hospital, according to her daughter.
Read also: Bolt reaches 250 million+ rides across 3 billion kilometres in Nigeria
Bolt app’s Kenyan assault response
Bolt Kenya replied to charges that it was deeply concerned about the driver’s assault and was assisting the police to investigate by saying it was deeply concerned. On their X platform, Bolt App Kenya stated:
This unfortunate act saddens us because we oppose systemic violence. We are investigating this problem and communicating with all stakeholders.
The ride-hailing company said it will work with the cops as they investigate the situation. Due to the sensitive nature of the case, however, it won’t say anything else until the review is over.
Bolt says it is working with law enforcement officials to investigate what happened thoroughly. On the other hand, Lillian’s daughter said that the cops at the scene didn’t arrest the suspect because he was in such bad shape.
This accident is another problem for Bolt Kenya, which is trying to make its drivers and customers safer.
The Bolt app struggles with African safety
Bolt is going through a rough patch in Africa. Kenyan authorities linked the e-hailing company’s app to two Nairobi kidnappers in June.
Kenyan Twitter users recounted similar examples of gig-working drivers becoming crooks after the two kidnappers were arrested. A tweet by Arthur Adema (@arthuradema1) claimed criminals had taken over the app and that the app company was hiding them.
Similarly, Ken Misiko, a Kenyan man, told of his terrible experience with a Bolt driver named Ezekiel, who turned out to be a thief.
The Twitter user said that he had given a laptop to the driver to deliver, but the driver fled with the laptop, and no one heard from him again. Also, the victim said that after trying to call the driver several times, the driver turned off his phone.
The victim, Mr. Misiko, said the driver was in a Suzuki Alto. Bolt has since responded to the tweet and promised to keep track of the case. In the end, the man tweeted that the problem was solved because he now had his device back.
This happened after e-hailing drivers in Nigeria said the company didn’t care about their situation because it wouldn’t raise fares or accept a cut in commission after a fuel grant was taken away, which caused fuel prices to skyrocket. After fights with regular cab drivers, drivers for the ride-hailing company Uber were banned from working anywhere near the Soweto Malls in South Africa.
