KAMPALA – Eng David Luyimbazi – Deputy Executive Director – Kampala Capital City Authority has revealed that in December or January 2022, if they have reached the target of about 15,000 boda bodas with driving permits, “we shall close down the city.”
KCCA is currently evaluating the boda boda riders who took part in the just-concluded census in order to be allowed to operate in the capital city.
Accordingly, those registered would be trained, given a security code, jackets and would operate from gazetted stages.
Eng Luyimbazi was on Friday speaking at a road safety awareness event for Boda Boda riders organized by Uganda Breweries Limited – UBL at the brewery in Port Bell, Luzira. At the event, UBL also donated 100 helmets and 100 reflector jackets to the riders.
The event is one of the planned engagements as UBL marks Safety Awareness Week to promote the culture of safety among employees when working on-site, at home, and on the road.
UBL Managing Director Andrew Itambo Kilonzo said the road safety awareness event is in line with the UBL ‘Society 2030’ sustainability strategy that charts UBL’s path to contribute to sustainable development.
“I am glad that our visitors today (boda boda riders) have also taken part in our ‘Wrong Side of The Road’ training that seeks to advocate against drinking and driving by educating drivers on the potential risks. This, we think will greatly improve safety on our roads.”
“It’s a tradition at Uganda Breweries that every year, we take one week to reflect. We reflect on safety, look at our safety records and see how we have been trending. Have we been able to get ourselves and our colleagues to work and go back home safe every day? What can we do to improve our working environment to continue to look after each other and ensure that our colleagues are going back to work safe?” he said.
Eng Luyimbazi noted that there are many challenges they face as a city with boda bodas.
“It’s unregulated, disorganized. 70% of the crime in the city has a boda bodas association. For accidents, 50% of Mulago’s budget is spent treating people who have been involved in accidents with boda bodas.”
He says that Kampala is one of the most polluted cities in the world and boda bodas are the highest polluters, noting that some of the boda bodas are using two-stroke engines mixing oil and Petro.
“Traffic congestion, boda bodas are parking everywhere on the streets. We spend a lot of time in traffic jam due to the unregulated conduct of boda bodas.”
Eng Luyimbazi says they recently carried out a census on the city and discovered that 94% of boda bodas don’t have driving permits, 94% don’t have third-party insurance which is a minimum requirement, 97% are not licensed to be on the roads, 70% don’t have log books “which means that ownership of those boda bodas is unknown which explains why many of them are involved in criminal activities.”
“We have decided to carry out massive training. We are trying to come out with the training of two weeks. I urge you to head to our call to come and participate. Traffic police have offered to give us their inspectors of vehicles to be available to evaluate you as soon as you finish the training,” he said.
He says that they are also engaging the Insurance Regulatory Authority – IRA to come up with a comprehensive policy that covers the boda boda, the rider and a passenger at a reasonable rate.
“This is an effort to make sure you are compliant, when there is an accident, you don’t have to run off the scene, you just know you are covered. These interventions are being implemented to support and streamline the boda boda business.”
He commended UBL for donating safety gear to 200 Boda Boda riders in Kampala in a bid to promote road safety on roads and reduce injuries and deaths as a result of motorcycle accidents.
The UBL Corporate Relations Director Juliana Kagwa clarified that Safety Awareness Week is an opportunity for the brewery to reflect on safety in operation of business for staff, the community around the plant and the general public.
“Internally, we are thankful that we have had over 10 years of zero accidents on site and no lost time. No lost time means that we haven’t had a time where a member of our staff is not working because they’re nursing an accident they attained on site and we applaud our safety teams for ensuring that.”
