Bolt Kenya has been ordered to pay 1,000,008,000 Kenyan shillings ($662,743) to an aggrieved driver, Kennedy Wainaina Mbugua on or before Friday, November 3. The driver had dragged the e-hailing company to the Transport Licensing Appeals Board for various infractions committed against his person and against the requirements of the Transportation Network Companies (TNC), Owners, Drivers and Passengers Regulations, 2022.
According to the case records obtained by Technext, the driver accused Bolt Kenya of breaching his data privacy. He also accused the company of harassing him when he complained by disabling his account on its platform, thus rendering him unable to work and earn a living for 168 days.
Bolt was also accused of refusing to comply with the applicable transport network regulations.
In the judgement delivered by Kenya’s Transport Licensing Appeals Board, the body set up to hear disputes about the country’s transportation regulations, Bolt was ordered to “immediately compensate Mr Wainaina with the sum of Kenya Shillings One Million and Eight Thousand (Ksh 1,008,000.00), for the 168 days he has been out of work to wit: from 15th May 2023 to 31st October 2023 at a rate of Kenya Shillings 6,000 per day.”
Bolt was also ordered to restore Mr Wainaina’s account which the e-hailing company had previously disabled and also refund the full amount he had in his wallet as at the time his account was disabled.
Lastly, Bolt Kenya was instructed to show evidence of compliance with the order to establish an office in Kenya before November 3. This is part of the requirements for operating in the country or risk having its license suspended or cancelled.
Recall that the company only obtained a renewed licence a few days ago after its application was initially declined. The renewal followed a lengthy negotiation in which the company agreed to cancel its 5 per cent booking fee levied on its passengers.
Kennedy Wainaina vs Bolt Kenya: A Background History
According to court documents obtained by Technext, The driver, Kennedy Wainaina approached the Appeals Board with a complaint that Bolt breached his data privacy on its platform. This breach has exposed him to fraudsters and other criminals looking to defraud and take advantage of him on the platform.
However, when he tried to complain to the company, their response was to kick him out of the platform by disabling his account and withholding all the funds in it. As a result of this, he has been unable to earn a living for a period now amounting to 168 days.
He further accused Bolt of not operating a physical office in his county (Nakaru County), or anywhere else in the country. This, he claimed, is in breach of the requirements set out in the National Transport and Safety Authority (Transport Network Companies, Owners, Drivers and Passengers) Regulations 2022.
This breach, Mr Wainaina claims, is enough to suspend Bolt Kenya’s operating licence.
In its ruling, the Board revealed that its effort to find out from Bolt Kenya if indeed it has a physical office in Kenya or if indeed it has tried to resolve the matters raised by Mr Wainaina proved futile.
“Indeed, save for mere denials, the Respondents did not offer any direct response to the substantive claims by the Appellant. As such, based on the material tendered by the Appellant, and the nonresponsiveness by the Respondents, the position asserted by the Appellant largely remains uncontroverted,” the judgement reads in part.
The board further asserted that to aggravate the matter, when the driver complained, instead of resolving the issue, Bolt retaliated punitively by deactivating his transport network portal account without following the imperatives of natural justice and the attendant procedural requirements.
The board noted that section 9 (2) (e) and 15 of the 2022 Regulations require that the Transport Network Operator (Bolt in this instance) put in place elaborate activation and deactivation procedures which meet the constitutional requirements of Article 47 of the Constitution as read together with Section 4 of the Fair Administrative Action Act 2015.
It, then, determined that in deactivating the driver’s account, Bolt acted capriciously and with impunity.
The Board also ruled that Bolt Kenya is operating against the law by not operating a physical office in Kenya.
For emphasis, Bolt has been in Kenya for six years. In 2022 it reportedly established an office in Kenya that it named its African Headquarters. It now seems by the dictates of the regulation, the African Headquarters doesn’t qualify as a Bolt office for Kenya.
The Board noted that in the eventuality that a transport network company fails to comply with any provisions/requirements, the NTSA is mandated to suspend or cancel their license under Regulation 13 (1) (b), of the NTSA (Transport Network Companies, Owners, Drivers and Passengers) Regulations 2022; which reads:-
(1) The Authority may suspend or cancel the license of a transport network company on the following grounds-
(b) failure to comply with any of the provisions of these regulations”
Apart from compensating the driver and restoring his account, Bolt Kenya has also been ordered to within 48 hours, file with the Board a compliance matrix in the terms of Regulation 7 of the National Transport and Safety Authority (Transport Network Companies, Owners, Drivers and Passengers) Regulations 2022; which shall be duly verified by the regulatory body.
The board also ordered Bolt Kenya to comply with these orders by November 3 or risk licence suspension.
“In the event of any failure to comply with orders (1-4) above, the 2nd Respondent’s (Bolt Operations OU) Transport Network Licence shall stand suspended with effect from 3rd November 2023, and the firm shall forthwith cease transport network operations,” the judgement concludes.
We reached out to Bolt Kenya for their response to the Board’s judgment but are yet to get a response as of the time of filing the report.
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