The Kayoola Bus zipped through Pakwach Bridge at about 10:00 am on Tuesday and was greeted by a crowd anxiously waiting to catch a glimpse of it at Omach Primary School playground in Pakwach Town Council.

Local leaders, teachers, pupils and students, and gleeful youth lined up to welcome the arrival of the bus; an initiative they say will promote jobs and reduce the cost of public transport in the country.

At Nebbi Primary School in Nebbi Municipality, the situation was not any different with locals walking as far as four to five kilometres to have a glimpse of the bus, while schools within town and neighbourhoods also closed for afternoon lessons for learners to come to have a glimpse of the bus.

“I never thought we would reach this level. I think this is worth celebrating and I am happy for my country and the President for his vision to promote science, it's reaping off,” said Geoffrey Ngiriker, the Nebbi Municipality mayor, adding that “I am going to convince my executive to buy one for schools within the municipality because we were planning for one,” he added.

The diesel-powered bus is part of the projects being undertaken by Kiira Motors Corporation.

Pupils queue to view the bus at Nebbi Primary School playground on Tuesday. Photo by Benedict Okethwengu

The Kiira manufacturing plant is being constructed on a 100-acre piece of land in Jinja district and is expected to foster the production of 22 buses daily according to Allan Muhumuza, the director of marketing.

Muhumuza said that the production of the bus dubbed Kayoola started in December last year.

“We started it last year, and when massive, we shall do about 22 buses daily, and that will create about 30,000 directly and 100,000 jobs indirectly,” he said.

Muhumuza explained the design and building of the bus is also unique, ensuring better aerodynamic performance, fuel efficiency, and safety of passengers.

He added that the bus is configured to a luxury interior featuring 47 reclining leather seats, a lavatory (toilet), on-board Wi-Fi, refrigerator, and CCTV cameras, noting that it conforms to Euro 111 emissions standards.

According to Muhumuza, they have already been offered land in West Nile to help scale up production.

“We are glad the leadership of Pakwach has already offered us land and we shall gladly make use of it to put other ventures,” he said.

Okoro County MP-elect Gabriel Okumu is one of the prominent leaders in West Nile who have had a ride on the Kayoola bus.

He stated thus they will work with other leaders to ensure that schools in the region acquire the state of the art bus for easy mobility of the learners.

“I think we can acquire this for all our schools. We just need to work well with parents and other stakeholders,” he said.

While flagging off the bus to Arua, Robert Abak, the Nebbi resident district commissioner appealed to Ugandans to support the state-owned nascent car manufacturer to develop the country’s automotive industry.

“We need to support the president, he is sure this is what he meant when he talked of securing our future, this project will address unemployment and create jobs through the automotive industry,” Abak said.