Mbarara drivers accuse Unra officials of extortion at weighbridge

Truck drivers in Mbarara City have demonstrated over alleged extortion by Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) officials at a weighbridge.

The truck drivers and owners, who met the Unra Executive Director, Ms Allen Kagina, at the weekend, complained that the officials at the fixed weighbridge in Koranorya on Mbarara-Kampala Highway force them to pay Shs500,000 weekly for each truck carrying sand.

‘’We acquire loans before buying these Sino trucks but we are charged a lot of taxes even before earning any single coin. They ask us to pay Shs500,000 per week, which they claim goes to the UNRA account,” Mr Boaz Kasaga Ssentamu, the chairman of Sino truck and Machine owners, said.

He added: “They increase taxes, intimidating us that UNRA bosses sat and therefore charges should be increased to Shs700,000 and we have to pay in a week. If you do not pay on time, a fine of Shs1.2 million is charged.”

 Mr Ssentamu explained that drivers pay a Shs3 million fine for not covering their sand while on the road and yet the money is not credited on Unra’s accounts.

“The Unra officials drive government vehicles, armed with pistols, which they use to force us to pay. They don’t even process any acknowledgement receipt but instead, they give us numbers where to deposit money registered in the names of Elias Kananura, Aaron Kiiza, and Esther Nampeerwa,” he said.

Mr Mark Akwasiibwe, the chairman of the Mbarara City United Drivers Association, said the Unra officials scare them with guns and the drivers do not have where to report them.

“We have suffered a lot and on top of being beaten like children, so that’s why we decided to strike because they had told us we don’t have where to report them,” he said.

The Rwampara County MP, Mr Amos Kakunda, said: ‘‘I think these sino truck drivers have been in this misery because they have failed to communicate to the relevant officers and the top management.”

 The Rwizi Region Police commander, Mr Alfred Bangambaki, said investigations are ongoing and that three Unra officials at the fixed weighbridge in Mbarara City have so far been arrested to aid in the investigations.

 “We shall investigate them in those circumstances and we shall be guided by the office of the DPP on the best way forward,” he said.

The three Unra officers are accused of extorting money from truck drivers ferrying sand to different destinations within Mbarara and the neighbouring areas.

Ms Kagina, the executive director of Unra, said:“We need more names of those people extorting money to be investigated since it is illegal to receive money without processing a receipt thus making it look like a bribe and also investigate the final destination of that money collected.”

In August, Daily Monitor published a story on how weighbridges have turned into highway extortion points in the country. 

The Unra Spokesperson, Mr Allan Ssempebwa, refuted the claims.

Mr Ssempebwa said the staff at the weighbridges are doing good work evidenced by increasing revenue from penalties issued to drivers of overloaded trucks.