Police drag taxi operators to parks 

The police yesterday launched an operation to evict taxis operating in ungazetted stages on the Kampala-Jinja highway.
 By daybreak yesterday, the police had mounted roadblocks at most of the stages used by taxis. Businesses in the area were paralysed as officers ordered  the taxi operators to go to the designated parks. 
A scuffle, however, ensued at the junction of Namugongo, Mukono, and Kampala near Shell Petrol Station in Kireka, Wakiso District. 

The operators at this stage protested what they called their untimely eviction as they pelted the police with stones, who in turn used teargas and shot live bullets in the air to disperse the crowd. 
The scuffle, that lasted more than an hour, saw many of the taxis impounded by the police and the drivers were arrested pending investigations into the matter. 
 Mr Luke Owoyesigire, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, said: “It was a small group of people who tried to disorganise the traffic in the area but it was handled and the place was secured. Everything is in safe hands.”  

The authorities said the parks along the route, that were put in place three years ago, have been shunned by the taxi operators. 
Mr Ednan Musisi, a Kira Municipal Council enforcement officer, said the operation was launched to decongest the roads.
“We have been warning these taxi operators but they don’t want to listen. We gave them alternative places which are wide enough because this road has so many heavy trucks and yet it is narrow,” Mr Musisi said in an interview.
However, the taxi operators, who spoke to Daily Monitor, said the new parks are hard to access. 

Mr Robert Kayigwa, a taxi operator plying the Kireka-Mukono route, said: “It is dangerous because it has wire lines crisscrossing the place and it can cause accidents.” 
Mr Robert Sonko, another taxi operator on the Kireka-Namugongo Seeta road, said: “The levies that are required for us to be in the park are so high and we can’t afford them. With the high inflation in the country, everyone is working on survival of the fittest so we shall not allow to go to the new designated place.”

Statistics
A Uganda National Roads Authority report in 2018 indicated that traffic on one key section of suburban highway is expected to increase from the current 60,000 vehicles per day to 100,000 by 2022 and 120,000 per day by 2032, far exceeding current capacity. 
The report also indicated that to relieve this increasing congestion, the government plans to construct a mainly Greenfield dual carriageway toll expressway between Kampala and Jinja (75 km to the east).