Prime
Why boda bodas may take longer to return
Police arrest boda-boda cyclists who on June 25, 2020 attempted to intercept President Museveni’s convoy protesting a ban on their passenger services in Kampala. Mr Museveni on Monday said the cyclists were considered an easy ground for the spread of coronavirus disease. PHOTO/ MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI.
What you need to know:
- In his latest address, President Museveni said: “Boda bodas, if allowed to transport people at this stage of the pandemic, may lead to further spread with complexity in tracking cases and contacts, given the large number of people they transport.”
The Minister for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs, Ms Betty Amongi, has said the delay by boda-boda riders to register will take them long to return to the business of carrying passengers.
Ms Amongi said the riders are resisting yet it is mandatory for them to register with Kampala Capital City Authority before they can start carrying the passengers again.
“We are going to start the registration because the biggest challenge concerning the return [of the boda-bodas] is about tracking and tracing them,” she told Daily Monitor.
Ms Amongi said the registration exercise will generate data that will be incorporated into a database which the Ministry of Health will use in case there is a need.
The minister said if the riders are already using apps such as Safe Boda, Bolt and Uber, their data can be integrated into the planned government data base. “We had indicated to them if they are also to be on other applications and we are able to integrate that data in our system, then we can also integrate with [the one of] Ministry of Health,” Ms Amongi said.
She said the riders have to first register like the taxi operators before they are allowed to carry passengers.
After President Museveni allowed taxis and buses to operate, KCCA issued a string of guidelines which, among others, included registration of taxis by owners and drivers. Government insists that the boda-boda riders must either join an online association or jointly form a platform that KCCA authorities can use to track them. But some riders have opposed this, saying they pay high commission fees to the application administrations for the service.
The chairperson of boda-boda riders in Kampala Central, Mr Kiviri Kanyike, confirmed they had agreed to join a government generated online platform.
“We shall only join the platform formed by the government but not the private ones because they charge heavily and determine the fares to be paid by passengers,” Mr Kanyike said.
The cyclists have since created a transparent barrier between rider and the passenger on the motorbike, with hope that the government would allow them back into business. This has, however, not happened.
