KCCA decides on taxi drivers' fees today

Mar 07, 2012

Mayor Erias Lukwago convenes a special meeting today to set the legal fees for taxi drivers.

By Brian Mayanja

The Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago convenes a special meeting today (Wednesday) to discuss and set the legal fees for taxi drivers.

This follows a petition by 23 out of 30 city councilors asking Lukwago to convene a special authority meeting to specifically address how Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) will manage the taxi parks and the revenue collection.

 During the meeting, councilors are expected to either endorse the sh120, 000 set by KCCA technocrats or support the taxi drivers' proposal to pay sh70, 000 a month.

In their petition, councilors also accused Lukwago of reluctance to convene meetings to address emerging issues.

 "Not only has this condition made KCCA operations difficult, but also given an impression that the policy making organ is incompetent," the petition read.

In a February 28, 2012 letter, Lukwago said authority members would lay strategies for improvement of standards in the taxi industry.

Apollo Mugume, Nakawa division councilor said they petitioned the Lord Mayor after realizing that KCCA was losing a lot of revenue from taxi business.

Benard Luyiga, Makerere University councilor asked his fellow authority members to discuss the method of collecting monthly fee.

Last week taxi drivers protested the sh120, 000 monthly fee set by Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).

The leaders of drivers' associations led by the Drivers and Conductors Central Association (DACCA) and the National Union of Taxi Operators (NUTO) argued that the fee was high for the drivers. They said all taxi operators had agreed on sh70, 000 as an affordable amount.

 

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