Exploring Regulatory Framework to Promote and Govern the Worker-Platform Co-operatives in Kenya’s Ride-Hailing Sector: Components, Challenges and Reform Recommendations
Jared Matabi’s report maps the legal and policy terrain around worker-platform cooperatives in Kenya’s ride-hailing sector. Based on interviews with government officials, platform representatives, drivers, legal experts, and cooperative leaders, it shows that the field is governed by a crowded web of ministries, agencies, laws, and regulations. Yet drivers still lack clear legal recognition, labor protections, ownership rights over digital platforms, access to finance, and coordinated institutional support. Matabi argues that platform cooperatives could improve income security, bargaining power, and data governance, but only if Kenya builds a clearer regulatory framework: one that recognizes driver-owned platforms, supports local digital infrastructure, expands cooperative funding, and strengthens democratic governance.
Matabi, Jared. Exploring Regulatory Framework to Promote and Govern the Worker-Platform Co-operatives in Kenya’s Ride-Hailing Sector: Components, Challenges and Reform Recommendations. New York: Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy, 2026.