Traffic police ordered not to pluck off number plates

By Wilson Manishimwe

The director of traffic and road safety in the Uganda Police, Dr. Stephen Kasiima, has ordered traffic officers not to remove vehicle number plates from commuter taxis over unpaid dues.

He said the express penalty scheme (EPS) system had errors and will be replaced by a new and better data system.

Traffic police recently started an operation against taxis with unpaid EPS charges.

Kasiima was meeting leaders of Kampala Operational Taxi Stages Association (KOTSA) at the Police headquarters in Naguru, Kampala on Sunday.

"No more plucking off of number plates for two months and I hope by that time, the responsible bodies will have cleaned the data system to streamline taxi operations," he said.

Kasiima said any Police officer who plucks off or damages a number plate will be forced to pay for it.

The chairman general of the National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU), Usher Wilson Owere, said most of the penalty receipts are suspected to be forged and that's why a new system has to be put in place.

"How can you issue a penalty receipt that bears the year 1947? Another driver was given a penalty receipt of December 2016, yet we are still in August. Such errors have to be removed."

Taxi operators said there are poor working relations between them and traffic Police.

They also complained of rampant corruption in the traffic department, with the traffic boss (Kasiima) saying that corruption will not be tolerated.

KOTSA chairman Yasin Sematimba called off the strike they had planned for Monday, saying they would wait for the cleaning of the data system.

"There's no strike going to take place. We have been promised that taxi operators' problems are to be solved," he said.

A liaison office has been opened at Central Police Station Room 32.