Sub-County chairperson dies in accident
What you need to know:
- Uganda registers at least 20,000 accidents with over 2,000 deaths each year, making it one of the countries with the highest road accident fatality rates in the world, according to police statistics.
- Last month, at least seven accidents were registered along the Kampala-Gulu Highway, killing over 30 people in three weeks.
Residents of Mpumudde Sub-County in Lyantonde District are in shock following the death of their LCIII chairperson, Fred Bakaru.
Bakaru got an accident on his way to Buyaga Village, Mpumudde Sub-County for the burial of former Kalungu District deputy RDC, Topista Mbabazi Kaggwa who also died in an accident last week.
According to eyewitnesses, Bakaru, who was riding his motorcycle, was knocked down by a speeding saloon car registration number UAX 034A along Masaka-Mbarara Highway. The saloon car was heading to Masaka.
Mr Richard Musisi, the Lyantonde District traffic officer blamed the accident on reckless driving. He said the deceased was taken to Kyazanga Health Centre IV which recommended a referral at Masaka Referral Hospital from where he died.
“The driver of the saloon car was moving at a very high speed yet also the chairperson attempted to cross the road without looking both sides of the road,” he said, adding: “We have always advised motorists to reduce speed whenever they reach busy town centres, but they have failed to take heed, if they were doing it, such accidents wouldn’t occur,” Mr Musisi says.
This is the second accident on the same road in a space of four days. The first one occurred on Thursday evening where a Toyota Premio registration number UBC 277B which was coming from Masaka collided with a Toyota Coaster registration number UAY 071D that was coming from Mbarara, at Muchomo Village, located a kilometre outside Kyazanga Town.
This accident claimed five people including; the deputy RDC Mbabazi, Betty Karasira, a councillor representing Kakiro Ward to Lyantonde Town Council and her husband Joseph Karasira plus their two close relatives.
Uganda registers at least 20,000 accidents with over 2,000 deaths each year, making it one of the countries with the highest road accident fatality rates in the world, according to police statistics.
Last month, at least seven accidents were registered along the Kampala-Gulu Highway, killing over 30 people in three weeks.
