Kiryadongo accident: Kadaga calls for strict regulating of buses

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has asked government to government to establish strict standard operating procedures for buses.

In a statement released on Sunday, Kadaga said that the standards should aim at reducing or regulating night travels, and traveling with a permanent marshall who should be a Police officer, to enforce matters relating to the safety of passengers.

On Friday evening, an accident that happened in Kiryadongo claimed at least 22 lives and left scores with severe injuries.

The accident happened at around 8:00pm when a Kampala-bound Gaaga bus rammed into a moving tractor that had no lights and reflector. The bus lost control and collided with an oncoming trailer loaded with alcohol.

"The pain of losing dear ones to road accidents is becoming very common on our roads, yet recent accidents are evidence that the country seems not to be picking lessons from such tragedies," Kadaga noted in her statement.

She stated that a developing nation like Uganda should not lose the desperately needed human resource that will anchor the progress the nation deserves.

She said that such mass deaths do not help the country's march to progress in light of the tears such tragedies leave on the faces of many, and the orphans the accidents create.

Kadaga asked the Government and all citizens of good will to extend all forms of support to the bereaved families and the injured, especially ensuring that the orphans get good education so that their future is not jeopardised by the loss of dear ones.

She also called for speedy and conclusive investigations into the accident, the outcome of which should guide a national intervention to lessen and end such episodes of tragedy that befall the country ever so often.