Parliament’s opposition wing has proposed that all Commercial motorcycle operators also known as “boda-boda” undergo mandatory training for accreditation before they are licensed to work on Ugandan roads.
The proposal contained in the Minority Report to the Traffic and Road Safety Amendment Bill 2023 presented by Shadow Finance Minister Muwanga Kivumbi is meant to enhance discipline on Uganda’s roads. The suggestion is also meant to offer redress to the escalating road carnage plaguing the country.
Kivumbi’s proposal was made as an objection to the government’s Shs500,000 charged on the motorcycle owners, with the opposition reasoning that the said charge is prohibitive in nature.
“We propose that for one to ride a boda-boda on any road in Uganda, one first undergoes mandatory training, accreditation and licensing by the Ministry of Transport,” Kivumbi suggested before adding that: “Our proposal is hinged on the fact that all road accident reports issued by the Police indicate that accidents attributed to boda boda riders account for over 70 per cent, most of which are fatal.”
In defense of the aforementioned proposal, the Butambala County lawmaker said: “Most of our riders are not properly trained and their motorcycles ore not rood worthy. We believe this measure will clean up the boda-boda industry and make it safe for all road users.”
Additionally, Kivumbi suggested that the boda-boda license be issued by the Ministry of Works and Transport at a charge of Shs30,000- renewable after every two years.
Statistics from the Uganda Police showed that motorcycles ranked highest of all last year’s fatalities on the lists automobiles that silenced souls on Uganda’s roads. The displeasing statistic contained in the same 2021 Police report also indicated that motorcycles dislodged the category of pedestrians as major category of deaths on the Uganda’s roads, something that had over 20 years never been witnessed in the country.
Specifically, at least 1,390 persons of the 4,159 fatalities recorded on Uganda’s roads in the 2021 were attributed to boda-bodas alone. Of these 528 were passengers. They never made it to their destinations.
