KAMPALA | KCCA | BODA BODA | TRAINING

If you are a regular bodaboda user in Kampala, chances are high that the cyclist you are trusting with your life is not qualified to be on the city's roads.

Fresh statistics from the Police Department show that a total of 50,000 bodaboda riders on the roads do not have the required qualifications as streamlined by the Traffic and Road Safety Act, 1998, Act 6 (Amendment) Act 2020.

There is a need to curb the crisis in public transport and streamline Boda Boda operations in the capital city to train and equip all riders with skills and clear documentation to reduce the ever-increasing number of accidents as a result of Boda oda usage in Uganda.

According to the press statement read to Journalists by the State Minister for Kampala Capital City Authority and the Metropolitan Affairs, Kabuye Kyofatogabye at Uganda Media Centre on Thursday, 94% of the bodaboda riders in Kampala City do not have driving licenses as recommended by the Ministry of Works and Transport.

“Out of those without driving permits, 94% do not have insurance cover and ride carelessly without ascertaining the value of their lives and that one of the passengers they are carrying daily,” Kyofatogabye alarmingly said.

“Shockingly, 98% of bodaboda riders in the city ride without passenger service vehicle (PSV) licenses and third-party insurance while conducting commercial business in Kampala,” he added.

“Another shocking revelation is that 73% of the motorcycles do not have log books to ascertain the ownership of the vehicles which he said has triggered theft of motorcycles in the whole country causing commotion and traffic congestion in the city,” added Kyofatogabye.

Kyofatogabye asked security details in Kampala to be on the lookout and ensure that every life becomes significant enough to be ignored when the state is on the lookout, calling it a ‘noble’ duty to inform the public about the dangers of traveling on a boda boda in Kampala.

“The death rate of productive Ugandans due to bodaboda accidents is over 50% (the city mortuary receives up to 40 bodies a day from bodaboda-related accidents),” he said

He added that the Uganda Police has indicated that the insecurity in the city has largely been driven by boda boda riders, who can show up without notice and disappear quickly.

“Without driving permits, when a bodaboda rider makes an accident on the road, it becomes very hard for the police to follow up riders who do not have driving permits and identification.”

“We zeroed our operations on bodaboda riders without helmets and reflector jackets but the whole main issue is driving permits which comes number one before anybody gets a vehicle including motorcycles on all the public roads in Uganda,” he clarified.

In an ongoing operation that was announced by the Police Directorate of Traffic and Road Safety in Uganda this month, the crackdown on the errant bodaboda riders ahead of Christmas and New Year’s festive season has seen hundreds of thousands of riders impounded with Kampala city registering the highest number of accumulated traffic fines on dodged offenses.

David Luyimbazi, the Kampala Capital City Authority Deputy Executive Director addressing journalists at Media center.

The crackdown, according to Faridah Nampiima, the directorate spokesperson, established that many motorcycles impounded lacked ownership documents (log books), and third-party insurance, and were in dangerous mechanical conditions to ride on public roads.

“We believe that some of the impounded motorcycles at different police stations are stolen motorcycles because riders failed to produce logbooks or buying agreements to ascertain proof of ownership before they can freely be handed over to them.”

“We have accumulated huge numbers of uncollected and abandoned motorcycles since operation which were discovered to have forged number plates, dodged to pay express penalty scheme tickets for the traffic offenses committed by riders impounded on different occasions and different locations in Kampala,” Nampiima said.

Motorists who have been caught on the wrong side of the law over various traffic offenses have paid fines amounting to sh20bn, according to a 2021 Uganda Police Force annual crime report. 

Police’s directorate of traffic and road safety issued a total of 336,725 express penalty scheme tickets to offenders throughout the country amounting to sh26bn, leaving a pending collection of sh6bn. 

Regarding motorcycles, a total of 40,078 riders were arrested for not wearing crash helmets while 35,373 rode without valid permits. 7,795 were arrested for pillion riding, among others. 

The report indicated a 42% increase in crashes amounting to 17,443 cases in 2021 as compared to 12,249 that happened in 2020. 

The month of December had the highest number of crashes followed by October and November while July recorded the least number of crashes due to the restriction of movement of vehicles during the lockdown. 

On fatalities, Kampala Metropolitan Police Traffic South head Godfrey Mwesigye said most road crashes in Uganda involve pedestrians who constitute the highest number of fatalities. 

“Accidents that involve pedestrians usually occur as they try to cross the roads. In some cases, pedestrians fall, victim, when vehicles veer off the road and plow into them. Other accidents occur when a driver trying to avoid collision with another vehicle ends up hitting pedestrians,” he said. 

However, worrying to note are the accidents caused by motorcycles that have since become a menace on the road. Although these are a popular means of transport in Uganda, Mwesigye said a good number of motorcycle riders were not only dying but killing most of the passengers. 

In 2021, motorcycles contributed to 34% of the fatalities on the road. Whereas 1005 passengers died on the roads, more than half (528) were killed by motorcycles. 

Those that sustained serious injuries generally were 4,377 while passengers on the motorcycles who sustained serious injuries were 2393. 

“With these statistics, you can predict that motorcycles in the next six months will kill more passengers and themselves, but this can be avoided,” Mwesigye said. 

Omongo Ndugu, the executive director of the Uganda Professional Drivers Network, said the statistics on fatalities will continue to rise unless the government makes deliberate efforts to train and sensitize motorists. 

Ndugu proposed that the ministry of works and transport working closely with the education ministry should introduce driver education as a vocational skill that will help motorists carry out refresher training on road safety. 

Massive training to be conducted

Kyofatogabye revealed that the Kampala Capital City Authority will conduct a one-month, six-day training for all boda boda-riders in Kampala alone, beginning Monday, December 28, 2022, and lasting until December 31, 2022.

“That training shall not be free training, and every rider is expected to pay sh60,000 per head for school fees because training is going to be conducted by private driving schools,” he disclosed.

“We expect to train 50,000 riders and give them driving permits which also shall attract a separate cost from the Ministry for Transport and Works.

Gen. Katumba Wamala, the Minister for Transport and Works, had earlier announced that fees for boda-boda riders to acquire permits would be decreased to help trained riders be allowed on roads with ease by many who ignored the provision when they dodged training.

Katumba had revealed that the one-year license was to be reduced from sh55,000 to sh27,500 three (3yrs) licenses from sh150,000 to sh75000, and the 5 years license from sh250,000 to sh125,000 but many boda-boda riders missed such an opportunity awarded by the government.

He believed that registration and training of riders would help in organizing the job and developing it to become good riders, an economic base for both the government and the riders but that remains to be seen after a large number of boda-boda riders shunned registration, training, and the census six months ago.

Training schools include; Uganda Driving Standards Agency (UDSA), Wefunile Driving School, Harris Driving School, Prestige Driving School, J, and K Driving School, Country View Driving School, Jet Riders Driving School, Tamale Driving School, and BK Transporters Training School, among other centers identified by KCCA.

Boda Boda Training Curriculum 

The Kampala Capital City Deputy Executive Director, Eng. David Luyimbazi disclosed that they have designed a special curriculum for the bodaboda riders to handle several topics starting with Traffic laws, Highway Code, Riding Skills, Driving on Urban Roads and Highway, Healthy and Safety, Customer care training, Client presentation and segmentation, Saving mobilization, Information gathering and awareness, Minor repairs and detection of faults, Crime Identification and detection and ideological orientation.

“We shall design stages and give them to the trained bodaboda riders on January 1, 2023, then enforcing the bodaboda ban shall resume on March I, 2023,” Luyimbazi threatened.