A case against the boda boda man

My views and observations on the boda-boda sector are unpopular, but I have insisted on making the argument even if it’s lone. When this column started four years ago, my editors named it ‘Majority Report.’ The idea was simple and straightforward: to argue the public case, speak to the public good and address fundamental socioeconomic and political issues affecting us as a country and a people.

Given my professional position, I suspect that the reader expects me to be fair and balanced, measured and thoughtful, to argue persuasively and base my conclusions in evidence, logic and reason.

This means that even though I write for the public and strive to present a ‘Majority Report,’ it cannot be mere populist pandering. When the need arises, I must make an unpopular argument when convinced it is valid. It is the right thing to do. Now to the case against the boda boda man.

The boda  boda trade is wrecking Uganda. The damage and destruction is slow, gradual but lethal. As a society, we have become numb to many problems; the boda boda sully is arguably the most important today.

There are many positive and productive aspects of the boda boda sector – employment and income to the riders, handy and quick transport for the public, especially commuting to work, source of investment and wealth accumulation, servicing the business and different productive sectors.

No one can argue against these many critical and invaluable contributions of the boda sector. Yet, as with everything else, we must weigh the positives against the cost, the benefit and damage.

Whichever way we slice it, if we are honest, candid, objective, and have the big picture in mind and take a long-term perspective, the boda sector is destroying our basic social fabric and humanity.

Much focus tends to be on the physical damage, and rightly so. The public health disaster on the roads, with deaths and broken legs every day. As I drove from Mbale on Monday, I found what has become a common scene: a boda-bike on the inside of the tire of a trailer, a pool of blood. This at a dangerous stretch, near Iganga hospital, close to Iganga Town centre.

It is now extremely difficult and dangerous to drive on Uganda’s highways: anytime a boda-man will suddenly pop up into the highway or will stray from the shoulder into the road. This is on all highways, including deep in rural Uganda.

Some of the major road accidents involving passenger and private vehicles have a boda angle as the direct or indirect cause. It looks likely that soon, most Ugandans will know a close and dear person as a boda boda victim, dead or alive.

Yet, even with this enormous public health disaster, arguably the most deleterious side of the boda boda trade is long-term, intangible and not apparent given the immediate benefits of the sector.  The boda-man operates on the assumption, indeed the belief, that rules and requirements do not apply to him in the course of his trade, riding the bike. In fact, the efficacy and attractiveness of the boda boda, as a mode of public transport especially in the city of Kampala, is predicated on not respecting any rules that otherwise apply to other road users.

That is, the boda boda stands out as a preferred means precisely because it conveniently violates every rule of the road: driving/riding on the shoulder and pavement, running the red light, total disregard for pedestrians, speeding recklessly, going in the wrong direction and side of the road.   In recent years and increasingly, government vehicles, police and military as well as some private cars committee these violations too, but the predominant and default conduct is that of the boda-man. The net impact is that we are fast becoming a lawless society.

As the boda boda trade has become mainstream and prevalent, the boda-man is shaping and driving our overall value system, ethos and public morality. Societal norms, values, beliefs and general public behaviour tend to reflect the predominant economic activity at a given time.

Today, the boda sector is not just about the rider, the boda-man; it also includes many Ugandans who own the bikes, those who finance them and the many who directly or indirectly benefit from the trade including political leaders.  The boda boda trade has fully ensnared and captured a plurality of Uganda, making us either aloof or outright indifferent to the dark and destructive side. Is there a way out? A question to which I shall return.

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