Bodas take over roads

To mark 50 years of Uganda’s independence, New Vision will, until October 9, 2012, be publishing highlights of events and profiling personalities who have shaped the history of this country.

Today, JOEL OGWANG looks at the inculcation of the bicycle and motorcycle into Uganda’s transport. The way the bicycle helped fuel the smuggling industry and the recent phenomenon of motorcycles being the easiest way of beating the traffic

Love them or hate them, they area central part of Uganda’s culture, significant to mobility of all, not mentioning people from the low, middle or upper echelons of power and status, as well as foreigners.

Out of a sample of 10 people, chances are high that all may have used or are using or own boda bodas (bicycles or motorcycles). Such is their popularity that even President Yoweri Museveni used one to canvass votes during his 2001 presidential campaigns!

“They (boda bodas) are now part of our culture,” says Grace Mwanguhya, 80, a retired businessman. “No one can ban or remove them from our lives.”

The history of boda bodas
The boda bodas are part of the African bicycle culture which started in the 1960s and 1970s. In Uganda, they originated from the eastern district of Busia.

The nickname was crafted from a need to transport people and merchandise across the ‘no-man’sland’ between the Kenya and Uganda border posts in Busia without the requisite paperwork involved with motor vehicles crossing international boundaries.

This started in border crossing towns of Busia in Uganda, where there is over half a mile distance between the gates, and quickly spread to the border town of Malaba in Kenya.

Trace Egesa, then a smuggler, notes that it was the fastest and cheapest means to evade taxes from revenue officers. “We would sneak in coffee and other merchandise across the border like a whirlwind,” says the 84-year-old retired teacher.

“During the day, I was a teacher and at night, a smuggler. I did all this to make ends meet, using a bicycle boda boda!” The bicycle owners would shout out “boda boda”, a Kiswahili version of the English word meaning ‘border-toborder’ to potential customers, but this is not to be confused with poda-poda, which is a form of hire motorcycle in Sierra Leone.

Indian-made bicycles with locally made carriers were used to ferry merchandise, but soon, they started transporting passengers and with this came the need for a cushion.

“From then on, people started referring to the hire bicycles as boda bodas, although now it is motorcycles that bear the name,” local media quoted Simon Mayende, the former Samia Bugwe MP, reminiscing the occurrences in his village, Bunyadeti in Busia in 2001.

In many East and Central African cities and villages, professional boda boda taxi-drivers are common. In Nigeria, they are called Okada or Achaba; any visitor to the country or a freak of West African movies, coined binigeria in Uganda, has heard of it.

Like a wildfi re, this means of transport spread from Busia in the 1960s and by the 1980s, they had covered most of Uganda’s major towns. It is alleged that to get to Kampala, the wave of the pedal cycle boda bodas followed one district after the other until they reached the city.

Today, there is a boda boda transport service for both hire bicycles and motorcycles, in all of Uganda’s towns, if not sub counties and villages. Technology However, while the bicycle boda bodas are still spreading to other areas, especially in Kenya, they are being replaced by motorbikes.

The motorbikes have taken the name as well, although in much of Uganda, the Kiswahili, Lusoga and Luganda term for motorbike, piki-piki, is used to describe these motorbikes.

With the liberalization policy undertaken by the NRM government in the early 1990s, most Ugandans ventured into importing second-hand motorcycle spare parts that they assembled and sold at Katwe and Ndeeba.

“People bought the motorcycles, graduating from riding bicycles in the early 1990s,” says Dr. Steven Kasiima, the commissioner of Police in charge of traffic and road safety.

Today, with Kampala’s dense traffic, most commuters resort to this cheap and fast transport means to beat the jams. Population No studies have been conducted to ascertain their numbers, but the Police estimates them at over a million, with 800,000 in metropolitan Kampala, including Mukono and Wakiso.

The booming industry has created employment to most urban youth, boosted income generation, local government revenues and provided alternative transport.

Presently, there are over 50 loose boda boda associations in Uganda, according to Police statistics, but with no clear policy to streamline their importation, licensing and operations; the industry has worsened the poor transport regime in Uganda.

The two-stroke engine motor cycles also pollute the environment. “They have also contributed to the congestion, accidents and high crime rates,” he says. “Some riders directly engage in criminal acts like theft and robbery.”

Death traps
The absence of operating laws has turned the boda boda industry into a hub for unemployed youths who rebel against the Police. The Police estimate that of the 3,000 lives lost in road accidents annually, boda bodas account for quarter the number.

For example, 512 people died from boda boda-related accidents while 2,642 escaped with serious injuries in 2010, rising to 3,279 in 2011 and 570 deaths.

“Boda bodas are the most unorganized, unsafe and unreliable transport means,” notes Kasiima.

“Unlike commuter taxis, they have no gazzeted parking spaces or stages. They are just a problem to the Police and the general public.” Such is the magnitude of the problem, that a ward at Mulago hospital has been dedicated to handling boda boda-related accidents.

What is your say?
Simon Wasswa, a technician Boda bodas are so dear to commuters and are most helpful in escaping traffic jams. They are fast and penetrate many rural areas that other transport means may not.

Grace Basonze, a teacher
We need boda bodas, especially with the heavy traffic jam in Kampala, but they disrespect traffic laws and often cause unnecessary accidents that are fatal. They are a necessary evil.

Hildah Butta, a secretary
Boda bodas are more of a problem than a solution to our transport needs. Their operators charge exorbitant fares compared to commuter taxis and buses. The riders are arrogant, abusive and cause accidents where many die. I hate them.

Didas Nsabimana, production assistant
We need boda bodas. They ease mobility, especially in the face of traffic jams, but our local governments need to streamline their operation and ensure they are more organised.