Motorcycles belonging to boda boda operators parked outside Nyayo Stadium in Nairobi in July 2022. Police arrested four suspects and recovered more than 50 dismantled motorcycles in Eldoret over the weekend.
Official data shows that new motorcycle registrations dipped by 52.6 percent to 62,338 last year from 113,513 registrations made in 2022.
Last year’s registration numbers for the units was the lowest since 2008 with industry experts attributing this to rising prices.
Imported motorcycles costing Sh130,000 and above are set to become more expensive after the National Treasury proposed to raise excise duty on a two-tier system featuring the current flat rate of Sh12,952 or a new proposed rate of 10 percent of the unit's value, whichever is higher.
The proposal to introduce the second option of 10 percent excise duty is contained in the Finance Bill, 2024 that is expected to be tabled in Parliament this month for debate and passage before the end of June.
“The first schedule to the Excise Duty act is amended by deleting…the corresponding rate of excise duty and substituting thereof the following new description and corresponding rate of excise duty … tariff 10 percent of the value or Sh12,952.83 per unit whichever is higher,” the Bill reads in part.
