UTODA out, KCCA takes over city taxis
Mr Vincent Mayanja, a taxi conductor at Ssembuule/Ndeeba stage in the Old Taxi Park, directs passengers to a commuter taxi yesterday. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI.
What you need to know:
Change of guards. Security minister Muruli Mukasa ordered all taxi operators and touts in Kampala to stop their operations in the city with immediate effect.
KAMPALA
The government has removed UTODA and other rival taxi organisations from managing the taxi transport business.
At a news conference yesterday, the Minister for Security, Mr Muruli Mukasa, ordered all taxi operators and touts in Kampala to stop their operations in the city with immediate effect. He said the government had taken over the taxi industry and no taxi association or group shall be allowed to manage any taxi business in any part of the city.
Mr Muruli said the move was to ensure security and proper management of the taxi industry and give Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) full mandate of running the passenger transport business in the city.
He directed all the rival taxi associations to “disengage” from all taxi stages, parks and the various KCCA offices at the city parks. “Factions of taxi operators in the parks are hereby ordered to disengage and allow KCCA and police to conduct their affairs without any form of provocation, intimidation or threat of violence,” the minister told the press. He told taxi drivers or touts not to pay any fee to any of the different taxi groups unless such a levy is sanctioned by and paid to KCCA accounts through banks.
“The police and KCCA enforcement team shall henceforth takeover the organisation and management of all gazetted taxi stages and parks, including all their entrances and exits, and any other form of public transport service in Kampala,” Mr Muruli said. He warned the aggrieved taxi groups against any improper conduct that might attract punitive actions against them.
“We are doing this to minimise the violence that has dogged the taxi industry, putting the taxi transport users’ lives at risk because of the unending chaos in the parks and on stages, perpetuated by the various taxi operators’ factions,” Muruli said.
The rival groups the minister has removed from the taxi business in the city include Uganda Transport Development Agency (UTRADA) headed by Mr Mustapha Mayambala and Taxi Parks/Stages Coordinating Committee (TAPSCOM) allied to KCCA headed by Mr Yassin Ssematimba. Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association (UTODA) which for long held sway in the city’s taxi business merged with other smaller organisations to form UTRADA.
Mr Mayambala, the UTRADA chairperson, said they had agreed to the government’s decision to take over the taxi industry after various meetings with the minister and KCCA.
“We had several meetings with the minister and deliberated on most of those issues. We resolved that it (KCCA) will take over the direct management of our industry and we shall not intervene in their mandates except the taxi operators’ welfare,” Mayambala said yesterday.
Mr Ssematimba could not be reached for a comment as our repeated calls to his cellular phone went unanswered.
The KCCA executive director, Ms Jennifer Musisi, who was with the minister at the news conference, said the takeover was aimed at “streamlining the taxi industry and offer better services in the transport industry in the city.”
The conference was also attended by Kampala Metropolitan Police Commander, Mr Haruna Isabirye. He said it was now clear who is in charge of the taxi transport and warned of stern action against anyone who engages in violent conduct.
“We have had enough of that violence of taxi operators. It is clear government has come out with a strong stand on the business and we hope everyone complies to avoid unnecessary commotions,” Isabirye warned.
