Speaker Among summons police, transport minister over road crashes 

The speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among has summoned the minister of works and transport, the Uganda Police, the leader of opposition in parliament and other stakeholders for an emergency meeting over worsening road crashes.

The meeting is slated for Thursday July 13, at the speaker's boardroom, starting at 8:00am. 
Uganda has witnessed a spate of road crashes in the last one week, claiming lives of tens of citizens. 

Majority of the crashes involve moving vehicles and trucks parked by the roadsides with the latest being the Link Bus that knocked a parked truck at Mukunyu, Kyenjojo District on July 11, 2023, killing the driver on the spot.

Among said parked trucks have continued to be a threat to other road users and action must be taken to save lives of Ugandans who ply these routes.

"We cannot say we continue to implement traffic and road safety acts and yet nobody is there to do their work. Let's hold some people accountable for this. So we should have that meeting tomorrow and I will report to the house on what we have agreed as a way forward and this should be resolved. You cannot park trucks on the road... we are losing people of sicknesses and the roads are bad, trucks are parked on the roads and nothing is being done," she said.

Among said it is a disaster that Ugandans continue to lose lives to parked trucks without signs to warn other road users to take caution.

Mr Anthony Akol, the Kilak North County Member of Parliament however said issues of road safety only appear when crashes have occurred and shortly after that they die out.

He said that those who are charged with responsibilities of implementing safety measures but have failed must be held accountable.

 "If we want to make the implementation to work, the ministry of works should report to parliament on quarterly basis on how they are implementing road safety measures," he said.

However, speaker Among said reporting on quarterly basis is too long and tasked the ministry to report to parliament on monthly basis.

Ms Shamim Malende, the Kampala City Woman Member of Parliament was also concerned about the barricades put by traffic police on the road, noting that a number of them have cause road crashes because they are placed in dark places without lighting.

"When you move on different roads at night, you find that the traffic officers leave those barricades on the roads which have caused several accidents and yet those roads have no lights," she said.

Mr. Silwany Solomon, the Bukooli County Central Member of Parliament wondered why government only swings to action when road crashes have occurred and stops to care once they subside. 

He said a number of laws and policies on road safety are gathering dusts without implementation yet they were meant to protect Ugandans on the roads.

"We only respond to crises and once they are over, we again go silent. We need to be proactive and take actions before crisis occurs," he said.

Several legislators also asked government to take action to save lives. 
Over the last two weeks, Uganda has witnessed a spate of road crashes and drownings in the water bodies. 

Majority of the crashes have seen speeding vehicles crash against parked trucks, leading to several deaths and injuries to the victims.

Uganda is one of the four countries on the African continent with the highest rates of road crashes. Others are Ethhiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania.

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