Govt issues deadline for boda boda registration

All boda boda cyclists operating within the Kampala City centre have until March 1 to register or lose their jobs, the State Minister for Kampala has said. 

Mr Kabuye Kyofatogabye said the riders will also be required to have reflector jackets that bear their details for easy identification. 

Mr Kyofatogabye made the remarks while addressing journalists in Kampala last week. 

He said the exercise will be supervised by Resident City Commissioners (RCCs) across all the five city divisions together with the Ministry of Works and Transport.   

“No boda bodas will be allowed to operate in the city without being registered. They will register according to their respective stages,” he said.

Cabinet in 2020 issued a directive to regulate boda boda operations in the city and restore sanity in the transport industry. 

Under the plan, all boda boda cyclists would operate at gazetted stages and operate outside the boda boda free zones. 

However, the minister did not give details on when boda bodas would be evicted from the city centre as per the earlier plan. 

But the directive also contradicts contents of the Boda boda Ordinance, which is before Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) council. 

The Ordinance seeks to regulate the boda boda industry in the city in its entirety by charging a monthly or annual road user fees, electing members of the boda boda apex body, gazetting of stages, uniforms and Saccos for cyclists, among others. 

City leaders argue that the piecemeal guidelines issued by the government could instead worsen the already fragile situation.

About the exercise

In 2013, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) attempted to register boda bodas in the city to ascertain their numbers and identity but the exercise was stopped by police saying some operators were clashing at registration centres. 

By the time it was stopped, KCCA had registered only 57,000 boda bodas in the city.