Taxi drivers frustrated by registration as lock down is eased
Jun 03, 2020
KAMPALA| COVID-19 | KCCA |TAXIS
Tension was high on Wednesday at Kitante Primary School following a big turn up of taxi drivers, attending the registration exercise.
Taxi drivers started flocking the registration center as early as 5:00 am, even before the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) officials in charge of the registration exercise, had arrived at the venue.
Security officials asked the drivers to queue up outside the school gate, even though keeping the social distance seemed hard.
The big turn up of taxi drivers follows a directive by President Yoweri Museveni, who eased the lockdown, thereby permitting public transport to resume operations after almost three months of being under lockdown.
Before operating in the city, taxi drivers are expected to register with KCCA to get driving routes within the city.
Some of the pre-qualifications for registration include possession of a valid driving permit, copy of the vehicle logbook, photocopy of national identity cards, tax identification number, Public Service Vehicle operator licence and the car being in good mechanical condition.
Patrick Kasozi Lubega, a driver from Gayaza said it is the third time he is turning up for registration, but without being worked on.
Lubega has accused KCCA officials of being slow and demanding for several documents before registering a driver.
Other drivers also accused security officials manning the gate, whom they said were allowing drivers to join the queue after allegedly bribing their way in.
The spokesperson of KCCA Peter Kauju maintained that until one registers with all the required documents, they will not be allowed to operate.
The Minister for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs, Betty Amongi, recently called on taxi operators to turn up in big numbers for the registration.
She said the exercise aims at creating a digital database for the authority of those operating in the city.
Amongi said in the case of taxis, they have so far gazetted 66 stages, including parks and 137 routes while for bodabodas, they have mapped out 970 stages and proposed gazetting 585 in the five divisions in the first phase.
KCCA plans to introduce different route numbers and colours for all the taxis to enhance order in the business, introduce identification of drivers/ riders, which shall include uniforms and badges for easy identification and tracking of both COVID-19-related suspects and those involved in crime.
However, Mustafa Mayambala, the chairperson of Uganda Transporters Development Agency, askS KCCA to continue engaging motorists before implementing some of the plans so as to mitigate clashes.
"We have addressed KCCA on this matter and we hope they will hear us out," he said.
Mayambala asked KCCA to set up more registration centres to quicken the process because taxi drivers are walking long distances, but end up not being registered.
He recommended that the exercise be done according to taxi stages instead of doing it collectively and haphazardly.
"Implementation should be done in close collaboration with the leaders of the stages and parks," Mayambala said.
Since 2013, KCCA has been conducting consultations on reforms aimed at creating order in the city.
The exercise was taken up again in 2016 after several consultative meetings involving the ministries of works and transport, finance, Police, the Lord Mayor, resident city commissioner and KCCA's speakers.
The team identified key challenges facing the sector, including the registration of bodabodas and taxis operating in the city and the creation of a digital database by KCCA.
However, the good news is that the registration exercise is still ongoing for the coming 2 weeks.