Save us from extortion by taxis
There is growing uproar over high transport costs incurred while using taxis as public transport means. PHOTO/FILE.
One of the President’s directives to prevent the spread of Covid-19 was Public Service Vans (PSVs) carrying passengers at half capacity. This, therefore, meant doubling fares by the PSV operators.
However, allow me to draw attention to abuse of this directive. A few weeks ago, I travelled by bus to Soroti that left Kampala at 11pm well beyond the curfew hours.
But that is not the issue here, my attention was drawn to the full capacity carriage and yet we still paid double fares. How can the government allow this extortion to continue under the nose of the security agencies tasked to implement the directive. At every police security point, the driver had to part with a bribe to be allowed to continue?
This should be a matter of concern to all Ugandans, including those who own cars. The government should lift the curfew to avoid extortions and high costs of doing business. Covid-19 was an inconvenience to our normal ways of life that many Ugandans have learnt to live with, anyway.
But the new normal of extortion should urgently be stopped because at the end of the day, it is the common man left to suffer. Government should intervene to arrest the situation before it gets out of hand.
David Ariko,
[email protected]
