Taxi drivers protest levy

Jul 07, 2008

Taxi drivers have asked local government minister Kahinda Otafiire to stop the Uganda Taxi Operators and Driver Association (UTODA) from charging them what they called illegal fees.

By Barbara Among

Taxi drivers have asked local government minister Kahinda Otafiire to stop the Uganda Taxi Operators and Driver Association (UTODA) from charging them what they called illegal fees.

They argued that UTODA was charging them between sh2,000 and sh35,000 each time they loaded passengers at various stages.

“UTODA has continued to illegally and forcefully collect loading fees without giving us receipts,” read a July 4 letter signed by their chairman, Mustapha Mayambala.

The drivers first petitioned the Ministry of Local Government over the fees last year and the state minister, Hope Mwesige, constituted a committee to investigated the matter.

The probe established that the ‘loading fees’ were illegal because they were not backed by any legal instrument.

Mwesige instructed the town clerk to abolish the levy by July 1.
However, UTODA has continued to collect it, saying Otafiire allegedly allowed them to continue collecting the fees on June 30.

UTODA manages the taxi parks and Kampala City Council authorised it to collect sh20,000 from each driver as monthly fees (sticker) and sh4,500 as daily receipt charges.

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