Three years after Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) embarked on registration of all commercial motorcycle riders, commonly known as boda bodas, only 25 per cent are in the authority’s records.
According to a six-year performance summary report released by KCCA on Wednesday, only 54,393 boda boda operators have so far been registered in the city.
Government officials put the number of unregulated cyclists operating in the city at close to 200,000, although they often confess that they do not know the exact number.
KCCA executive director Jennifer Musisi said in the report that plans are underway to reorganize the industry, in the wake of growing insecurity concerns.
“A report and recommendations streamlining the industry have been submitted to the minister for Kampala,” Musisi said.
Kampala lord mayor, Erias Lukwago, told The Observer in a phone interview yesterday said KCCA still lacks a legal framework to implement the registration exercise.
Lukwago warned that the boda boda industry, of which KCCA has no known numbers, will continue to become a shield for criminals unless the sector is properly regulated.
“We are yet to make headway on this; so, KCCA should not call it an achievement to register the 50,000 riders. Unless there is a data bank which can be created through a law, then this exercise will be in vain,” the lord mayor said.
“As a council, we are working on an ordinance to regulate the boda boda sector, which will help to gazette stages, give all riders personal numbers and helmets, as well as inscribe all motorcycles with numbers,” he added.
Lukwago said the sector must be streamlined as part of the mass public transport industry in Kampala metropolitan area.
“It would be dangerous for the city authority not to manage the transport sector. Registration of all players must be done and information compiled and regularly updated,” he added.
FEARS OVER BODA BODAs
In September 2013, KCCA embarked on registration of motorcycles operating within Kampala, in a bid to organise the city’s transport systems and manage the growing boda boda industry. The exercise, however, met with stiff resistance from some factions within the boda boda cyclists, who protested the move and disrupted the exercise.
The industry has in recent months come under the spotlight over a spate of insecurity incidents involving boda boda riders. Last month, the former assistant inspector general of police and police spokesperson, Andrew Felix Kaweesi, was brutally murdered in Kulambiro, a city suburb.
Kaweesi, together with his bodyguard Kenneth Erau and driver Godfrey Wambewo, were shot dead by unknown assailants who were riding unidentified motorcycles.
The incident sparked wide debate on the increasing use of boda bodas for criminal activities. A trail of previous murders of prominent people including Major Muhammad Kiggundu, Joan Kagezi and a number of Muslim clerics point to the assailants using motorcycles to attack the victims, something President Yoweri Museveni agrees to.
KCCA BALANCE SHEET
KCCA’s performance summary report also outlines the achievements of the authority since its inception under Musisi’s leadership. President Museveni last week gave Musisi a third, three-year contract at the helm of KCCA.
The report states that revenue collection increased by 180 per cent, from Shs 30.3 billion as reported in 2011 to a total of Shs 84.9 billion as at the end of financial year 2015/16.
For the period July 2016 to February 2017, KCCA said it has Shs 61.48 billion. KCCA also reconstructed over 50 kilometres of roadside drainages and maintained nine kilometers of the Nakivubo channel.
In addition, KCCA has reconstructed and upgraded a total of 151.96 kilometres of paved roads, while more work is ongoing on 54.15 kilometers for upgrading to paved standard.
KCCA says it has also reconstructed and maintained in motorable condition about 60.12 kilometres of gravel roads, with roads in good condition increasing from eight per cent in 2011 to 22 per cent by March 2015.
However, Lukwago dismissed the report, saying it has not yet been looked at, and adopted, by the council.
“That is just a baseline survey carried out by the technical wing. How can you outline achievements and not even mention challenges?” he asked. “Treat that as a mere press release from the PR department.”
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