Bus driver abandons students at park

Some of the strunded students of Kotido Senior Secondary School at Lira Bus Park on Friday. PHOTO by Frank Jean Okot

Lira. More than 130 students of Kotido Senior Secondary School were stuck at Lira Bus Park in Lira Town on Friday.
The students were reportedly returning from a one-day study tour in Serere District heading back to Kotido via Lira Town last Thursday, but Mr Nixsion Amangole, the bus driver who resides in Ojwina Division in Lira Municipality, and the bus manager, claimed they had not been paid their balance of the money and drove them straight to the bus park, where they abandoned them.
The school reportedly hired a bus belonging to Comfort Buses at Shs3.6m from Lira to transport students from Kotido to Serere for the tour.

The bus manager, Mr Patrick Owot, told Sunday Monitor on Friday that they wanted to be paid their money before taking back the students.
Alfred Ariko, a Senior Four, said: “We slept at the bus park near people’s shops. Each of us paid Shs65,000 for the study tour.”
Mr Adam Kaira, a geography teacher of the school, who was leading the students, said they were very disappointed.
Mr Mohammed Bigirwa, the officer-in-charge of traffic at Lira Central Police Station, confirmed the development and warned school authorities to always pay bus owners in advance before they take off for any study tour.
Kotido SS is a government-aided school. By press time the students were still at Lira Bus Park.