ABSTRACT
The transport sector is a key driver of Kenya’s economy and is multi-layered and governed through a complex structure of both formal and informal systems. The public transport sector includes the paratransits and the passenger service motorcycles. The government plays a key role in regulating and controlling the sector, mainly through the National Transport and Safety Authority. Paratransit operators are required by law to belong to registered transport savings and credit organizations and companies in order to operate in the sector. Workers are also required to have formal work contracts and social insurance provision. On the contrary, the motorcycles sub-sector has no legal provisions for employing workers nor are operators required to join transport associations to work in the sector. This study explores the role of organizations in provision of social protection for informal transport workers in the paratransits and motorcycles sub-sectors. The chapter is based on research conducted among 200 transport workers in the two sub-sectors in Nairobi and Kisumu urban areas between 2018 and 2019. Results show that a key benefit of both the paratransit and motorcycle associations is negotiating with authorities on behalf of workers when they get into problems with authorities. Further, despite legal provisions to protect workers in the sector, most paratransit workers join associations to access jobs and comply with government regulations and hardly to address social security. Hence, the challenge is not the absence of laws but lack of enforcement and supporting systems.
