Govt drafting guidelines on boda boda registration - KCCA

Government is drafting rules to guide the registration of all boda bodas in the city, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has said.
The revelation follows queries by some motorists who demanded to know why the government was planning to register their boda bodas yet there are no clear policies regulating the industry.
However, Mr Peter Kaujju, the KCCA director for corporate affairs, told Daily Monitor that although the registration exercise is in the offing, guidelines to manage the entire process will be unveiled formally.
“We are currently engaging relevant authorities under which this industry falls to see how we can kick-start the registration of all boda boda motorists because it’s a big exercise,” Mr Kaujju said.
“After the engagements, we shall then release a registration roadmap,” he added.
The guidelines, Mr Kaujju added, will comprise components such as taxes to be paid by the motorists, gazzeting of stages, election of leaders, welfare and identification, among others.
He said KCCA cannot carry out the exercise alone because the boda boda industry affects different ministries, whose input is important in the management of the industry.
Some of the affected ministries are Works and Transport, Kampala Affairs, Internal Affairs, Security, Finance and Gender.
During a crisis meeting between the ministries last month, Kampala minister Beti Olive Kamya said the registration of boda bodas is urgent because of many bad elements in the industry. “By streamlining its operations, we shall have contained the continuous clashes which have since dogged the industry. Besides, government is losing a lot of revenue because they aren’t paying taxes since there are no laws in place to guide their work,” she said.
The crisis meeting was convened after security operatives raided the offices of Boda Boda 2010 and arrested their patron, Mr Abdallah Kitatta, and others for allegedly carrying out criminal acts against humanity.
Boda Boda 2010 operations are allegedly sanctioned by police and the alleged criminal activities of the organisation prompted the authorities to start preparations for the registration of all motorists.
Currently, boda boda riders do not pay any revenue to government and neither do they have gazetted stages. Their actual number remains unknown.
In 2013, KCCA attempted to register all the boda bodas in the city but the exercise suffered a stillbirth when police intervened and suspended it. Since then, the industry has been dogged with clashes, especially among rival associations.
On February 9, the Kampala Central Division town clerk, Mr Theo Tihibika, announced that KCCA has started the registration of all the cyclists in the city.
However, officials from KCCA intimated to Daily Monitor that the letter by Mr Tihibika has since been rescinded on grounds that it was rushed.
They further explained that the registration exercise cannot start in the division without authorisation by the headquarters.
Daily Monitor has seen a list of at least 52 boda boda associations with different leaders. However, these groups have god fathers to whom particular motorists pay allegiance.

The big problem
Mr Muhammad Kasujja, the chairperson of Century Boda-boda Riders Association, accuses government of delayed intervention in the management of the industry.
Mr Kasujja alleges that army deserters and serving police officers have since infiltrated their business, creating suspicion and fear among motorists.
Dr Kiggundu Amin Tamale, a senior lecturer of urban planning at Makerere University, blames the struggling boda boda business on poor city planning.
Dr Kiggundu says the functionality, liability, sustainability and productivity of cities depend largely on the efficiency of the existing transport systems.
To mitigate traffic jam caused by boda bodas, Dr Kiggundu advises government to provide a separate lane for motor cyclists on each road, citing Malaysia, where he says such provisions have reduced accidents.

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