Chaos mars boda boda elections in Mbarara

Mbarara. Chaos erupted at Mbarara Municipal Council offices on Monday after the district leadership blocked elections for boda boda leaders for the third consecutive time under unclear circumstances.
The elections, to be overseen by the office of the town clerk, had earlier been planned for September 9 but were postponed to September 30.

As the time approached, they were again postponed to Monday, December 5.
The Mbarara District chairman, Capt JB Bamuturaki, Mayor Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi, the Resident District Commissioner, Capt Martha Asiimwe, District Internal Security Officer, district police commander, town clerk and principal commercial officer on Monday went into a closed door meeting, keeping the cyclists waiting for hours.
The cyclists had converged at the municipal council yard from around 9am waiting for the town clerk to oversee the election process. After the meeting ended at around midday, the leaders announced that the polls would instead take place on December 13 at Kakyeka Stadium.

The town clerk, who was represented by Mr Francis Tumwebaze, told cyclists that they had not informed him (town clerk) about the matter and that the elections had been postponed for security reasons.

However, the cyclists protested the decision, accusing the leaders of failure to honour past election dates.

“You must first write an agreement because we have been agreeing verbally but today, we must have it in writing for proper documentation,” said Mr James Mr Arinaitwe, the current chairman for the cyclists association.

The boda boda cyclists also accused the district leadership of trying to involve them in their politics.
The Mbarara District police commander, Mr Jaffar Magyezi, said boda boda cyclists had not gone through proper procedures to conduct their elections and there were internal disagreements.

New date
Mbarara Municipal council committed itself in writing to have the polls on December 13.

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