Boda bodas: The ‘mobile graveyards’ on Kampala city roads - Part one

KAMPALA.

Rebecca Nampijja Kakooza had graduated from Makerere University Business School just two months earlier when a job opportunity presented itself. She was ecstatic. And she was grateful she would escape the back-breaking job hunt that thousands of university graduates go through every year.

On March 2, the BA Economics graduate woke up early, wore the best she could find for a first day at work and set off. But when she was confronted by Kampala’s maddening morning traffic jam, she knew boarding a taxi would mean arriving late for work.

She thought of a Plan B, a boda boda, whose riders have mastered the art of squeezing past snail-paced cars during rush hour, to jumping traffic lights with their passengers holding tightly on. Rebecca hopped onto one, and started the 15-kilometer trip from her home in Kitende to Kampala. But instead of office, her journey stopped at the Centenary Bank junction on Entebbe Road, when her boda boda rider, throwing all traffic caution to the wind, dashed in front of a commuter van as he attempted to cross the road.

Alice Nakide, a passenger in the ‘killer’ taxi, witnessed how it all happened: “I was seated in the third row of the taxi and a boda boda [on which Rebecca was seated] appeared from nowhere in front of the taxi. Our car wasn’t speeding at all. She jumped off the boda and then she was under the car.”

She added: “The driver ran over her with the front tyres and then with the back tyres. The passengers were screaming and telling the driver that there was someone under the car...”
And like in most accidents involving boda bodas and taxis, Rebecca’s rider fled the scene, leaving her for dead. The taxi driver would have fled too, had it not been for a police officer who arrested him. Doctors at Mulago hospital where she was rushed, couldn’t save her.

The grief that befell Rebecca’s family and friends was so suffocating; none could find the words to explain why a life that had barely bloomed could be doomed so fast and so tragic. Becky, as her friends fondly called her, was just 24-years-old.

At her burial in Buloba, Wakiso District, beads of sweat – a result of the day’s heat - mixed with tears of grief rolled down faces of hundreds of mourners.

“I was very angry when I learnt of how her life was taken away. I asked God, what is your problem?” a mourner said, before Becky’s casket was lowered into the grave.

The story of Becky paints a picture of the danger that lurks daily on Uganda’s roads in the name of boda bodas. These commercial motorcycles leave a trail of death, broken limbs and sometimes, narrow escapes in their wake, raising questions about whether the sector can be sustainably sanitised.

Burden on health/life
An October 2014 study by researchers from Uganda Christian University and Makerere University, notes that medical costs constitute the first and most tangible economic burden experienced by victims of boda boda accidents, immediate family members and friends.

Based on data estimates from surveys at Mulago hospital, the researchers established that “medical costs per cyclist who is seriously injured translate into 7,977,135 Uganda Shillings”.

Additionally, a March 2015 ACME online survey carried out to understand the burden of boda boda usage in Uganda, showed that out of the 143 respondents interviewed, 51 had been involved in a boda boda accident, which resulted in minor injuries, while three people were seriously injured. Additionally, 84 of the respondents said they knew someone who had died as a result of a boda boda accident.

Ms Mable Nakitto Tomusange, the Executive Director Injury Control Centre, an organisation that aims at reducing road accident cases through advocacy and research, said boda boda related injuries contribute 45-50% of all road traffic incidents on Ugandan roads, with majority of those injured being women.

She added that Mulago hospital receives between five to 20 boda boda accident cases per day, majority of the patients admitted with head injuries and fractures.

“Mulago hospital budget for the surgical medical side uses 62.5 per cent of its total budget on boda cases,” Mrs Tomusange added.

The economic burden
When a boda accident happens, the temptation to focus on what kind of injury victims have sustained oftentimes overshadows the economic burden that will follow during treatment or burial and other expenses.

However, as the 2014 study by researchers at Uganda Christian University and Makerere University notes, the estimated economic burden of motorcycle accidents in Uganda is Shs8.9 billion (approx $3.6 million) per year.

“Although these figures do not take into account the administrative and funeral costs of motorcycle accidents, the estimates reveal that if motorcycle accidents continue, the country’s growth prospects will fall by US$3.6 million annually,” the study, titled, The cost of Motorcycle accidents in Uganda, notes.

It adds: “Medical expenses and lost output due to severe injury are the biggest component of motorcycle costs, contributing 40% and 35% respectively.”

The number of days lost at work by riders who get injured in accidents also reflect the gravity of challenges that afflict the boda boda industry.

The research explains that: “Analysis of survey data reveals that an estimated 389 boda boda riders were away from work due to serious injuries from motorcycle accidents, amounting to an average of 46.6 lost days of work.”

Where is the problem?

Speaking to ACME from his office at the Central Police Station in Kampala recently, Dr Stephen Kasiima, the Director in-charge of Traffic and Road Safety, listed a raft of factors that make boda bodas a menace.

“The ratio of traffic police officers to boda bodas is 1:500. Those are absolutely too many compared to for instance kamunyes (taxis),” he said, adding: “I don’t think we need more than 5,000 boda bodas in Kampala. But they are so many we don’t even know the number.”

Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) had projected that more than 150,000 boda bodas operate in Kampala. However, a 2013 registration exercise put the number at 67,000, although the figure could be higher since not all motorists registered.

Dr Kasiima said the absence of an identifier for boda bodas, makes it easy for the riders to break the law as they please.

“…they park wherever they want. We don’t own Kampala so we can’t tell them park here, park there. They stop wherever they want, they drop passengers wherever they want, they come from wherever they want throughout the country and even beyond.”

He added: “Without knowing who these people are, without clothing them with unique uniforms, without numbers, it will be difficult for us in traffic to enforce the discipline.”
Other issues such as the absence of lanes for the different category of road users, lack of a unifying boda boda association and the different parties involved in boda boda operation, hinders the regulation of operation of the cyclists, according to the traffic police boss.

“In Uganda we have what we call traffic mix – there is no separation of motorcycle (lanes), from motor vehicles, lorries, wheelbarrow pushers, bicycle men and pedestrians – the whole thing is kavuyo (chaos) and to whom it may concern. That’s why we have many accidents. If we had separated (lanes), the pedestrians would be safer to walk and cross, but (at the moment) you cross at your own risk.”

Dr Kasiima said interested parties in the boda boda industry, such as Resident District Commissioners, Local Council chairpersons, police officers, other security officers as well as journalists, “put pressure” on traffic officers, making it difficult to crack down on errant riders.

Mr Chrysestom Kabugo, who has been a boda boda rider for 15 years, admits that the industry is riddled with a number of challenges, notably the huge number of inexperienced riders, especially in Kampala.

“Long time ago, there were few of us on the road but now everyone rides a boda even after only learning for two days. Many of them are careless. They use the horn as a brake,” he explained.

Mr Kabugo cited poor regulation of riders; corruption by arresting officers and lack of employment options for youth as other factors contributing to the mess in the boda boda industry.

“Long ago, when you came to ask to work at a boda stage, the chairman of the stage would test you and then approve you. You had to get an ID from the chairman and he would not sign until you had been tested. Now there is no organisation. You just pay and start riding. Even getting a riding permit is easy. You can just pay and get one without testing,” he explained.

Lack of respect from drivers
However, Stephen Wakimera, who has been a boda boda rider for seven years, says most drivers are impatient with bodas and don’t respect them.

Mr Wakimera was in the past involved in an accident and sustained injuries. He blamed the car driver for turning abruptly without indicating.

“The driver rammed into me. He got out of the car and was angry with me but everyone had seen he was in the wrong. The traffic officer who was close by had seen it and told him it was his fault,” he explained.

However, the rider also says some of his colleagues abuse prohibited substances which make them fail to concentrate on the road.
“Some boda boda riders smoke marijuana and act reckless when they ride,” he said.

Ms Saison Arinaitwe, a resident of Nansana, Wakiso District, however says boda boda riders are the impatient ones. “They squeeze in between cars without waiting for cars to pass,” she said.

Yennifer Censi, an Italian living in Kampala, says she uses a boda boda about three to four times a day. She has never been involved in a boda accident but says the “chaotic Kampala traffic system” is to blame.

“It is a mix of everything. Sometimes car drivers can be arrogant. They think they can just drive without paying attention to the bodas. Also, when there’s traffic jam, there are lots of bodas and it is chaos. Some of them ride very fast,” she explained.

Gwokto La’Kitgum, one of the people who commented on Becky’s demise, succinctly captures the hazard that boda bodas are; “…all boda bodas are mobile graveyards.”

As the different authorities continue to scratch their heads for a solution to the boda boda problem in the country, Ugandans will continue bearing the burden that comes with the usage and operation of commercial riders.

Boda bodas and crime

Aside from being a menace on the road, boda bodas have also been linked to various crimes, including murders.

On 30 March 2015, state prosecutor Joan Kagezi was shot dead by men on a boda boda. The lawyer had stopped near her home in Kiwatule to buy fruits for her children who were in the vehicle she was driving. The 7:15pm killing caused public outrage on the safety of judicial officers but once again raised the question about boda boda regulation and safety in the country.

According to the 2013 crime and road safety police report (the 2014 and 2015 reports are yet to be released), 256 motorcycle passengers died in road crashes in 2013, while 1,867 passengers were seriously injured. In 2012, 268 passengers died and 1,862 were seriously injured.

Jackline Nakabuye, a 26-year-old resident of Kasubi, a Kampala suburb, is another Ugandan who died as a result of boda boda accident. On 30 November 2014, Jackline put on her Sunday best, flagged down a boda boda cyclist and started off to church.

A few minutes later, Jackline could visibly see the tall walls of her church from across the road. The cyclist, familiar with his customer’s destination, started crossing the road and suddenly realized there was an oncoming car, closing in on them.

In a last minute rush to save the moment, the cyclist swerved to the other end of the road, escaping with minor injuries. His passenger though, was thrown off the bike in that dash to safety, landing in the middle of the road where the vehicle took her life in a snap

The numbers
150,000
The number of boda bodas projected to be operating in Kampala according to Kampala Capital City Authority.

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The writers work with the African
Centre for Media Excellence