Rotary rallies communities to join drive to save lives on roads

The campaign was officially launched on July 1, 2026, the first day of the 2026/2027 Rotary year, with a road safety walk from Ruts Lounge in Namugongo to Comboni Missionary opposite Kyaliwajjala Market in Kira town-council, Wakiso district.

The event, organised by the Rotary clubs of Kira, Sonde, Kitukutwe, Bulindo and Najjeera, attracted hundreds of participants, including schoolchildren, boda boda riders, traffic police officers, Rotarians, local leaders and residents, who marched with placards carrying road safety messages.

 

Rotarians from the rotary club of Sonde posing for a photo moment with their banner. This was during the rotary road safety awareness campaign in Kyaliwajjala.

The launch also marked the official commencement of the Rotary year for District 9213 under the leadership of District Governor Gerald Obai, who assumed office on July 1, 2026, in accordance with Rotary International's annual leadership transition framework, under which Rotary leaders serve one-year terms before handing over to their successors.

For Obai, the decision to make road safety the district's signature project was driven by personal experience.

"This morning, we are here to launch the main project activity that every Rotary and Rotaract club will be engaging in during this Rotary year. It's our road safety programme," he said.

Having spent more than two decades travelling across Uganda, Obai said he has witnessed too many tragic crash scenes.

"For the last 23 years, I have always been on the road, and every two or three weeks I am on a highway. The things I have seen on our roads are very depressing. Getting to an accident scene where people are lying dead is very, very painful. I am always grateful each time I make a safe trip," he said.

According to the Uganda Police Annual Crime and Traffic/Road Safety Report 2025, road crashes remain one of the country's leading public safety concerns.

The report indicates that more than 5,000 people lost their lives in road crashes during the year, while thousands of others sustained serious and minor injuries.

On average, about 15 Ugandans die every day in traffic crashes, with human error accounting for the overwhelming majority of incidents.

Obai believes those figures can be significantly reduced through sustained public education.

"As district governor, I felt that I could champion this, and with a strong Rotary membership, we have a strong force. Rotarians have a presence in every community, whether in schools, churches, markets or among community leaders, and we believe they can help change the painful statistics we witness every single day," he said.

He added that road safety would not be treated as a standalone project but would instead be integrated into every Rotary activity throughout the year.

"Whether we are implementing an education project, constructing a borehole or working with communities, we will use every opportunity to spread the road safety message," Obai said.

District 9213 comprises 151 Rotary clubs and 140 Rotaract clubs spread across different parts of Uganda.

According to Obai, every club has been assigned a road safety role, ranging from adopting schools for road safety education to painting zebra crossings, conducting community sensitisation campaigns and engaging boda boda riders.

Traffic Police spokesperson Michael Kananura welcomed Rotary's intervention, saying road safety cannot be achieved through police enforcement alone.

"We welcome this campaign that the Rotary clubs have joined together to come on board to see what they can do in as far as road safety is concerned," Kananura said.

He noted that while police continue enforcing traffic laws, lasting change will only come through behavioural transformation.

"When Rotary comes on board, they are not coming to enforce; they are coming to do what is more important, and that is sensitisation. Sensitisation is what can tame the behaviours of our drivers on the roads," he said.

Kananura said dangerous practices such as speeding and reckless overtaking remain among the leading causes of crashes.

"The more we speak to communities, the more we speak to people through campaign activities, the more we are going to see change on our roads," he said.

He described road safety as a shared responsibility requiring every citizen to play a role.

"We have always said police alone cannot do it. Let us not speak alone. Let others also join us to speak-church leaders, Rotarians and other stakeholders. Safer roads are a collective responsibility, not a one-man responsibility," he added.

Kira Municipality Member of Parliament George Musisi said the campaign comes at a time when many crashes remain avoidable if road users exercised greater caution.

"Today we are launching, in partnership with the Rotary Clubs around this area, a road safety campaign. The essence of this campaign is to remind us all that because we all use the roads, we all have problems on the roads," Musisi said.

He pointed to the growing number of boda boda crash victims admitted to Mulago National Referral Hospital as evidence that more awareness is urgently needed.

"Mulago Hospital receives boda boda crash casualties daily as a result of things that should be avoided; accidents that are preventable," he said.

Musisi challenged both the government and road users to strengthen compliance with traffic regulations while calling for better regulation of the boda boda sector.

"We have very good traffic laws. The problem is enforcement," he said, adding that volunteer organisations such as Rotary help bridge gaps where government capacity is limited.

He added, "Government doesn't have the capacity to reach everywhere or handle everything. When we have volunteers like Rotarians coming in, with their wider reach, they help fill the gaps in service provision where the government may not have reached," he said.