Boda Boda registration pushed
The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) has pushed further the Boda Boda registration exercise that was slated to close on 1st September 2022.
In January 2022, the government announced that all boda bodas operating in Kampala be registered to ensure organisation amidst the Smart City campaign. The exercise was extended in March to 1st September 2022.
This followed a 2020 cabinet decision to register all boda boda riders to restore sanity in the City.
However, the Deputy Resident City Commissioner (RCC) for Rubaga, Anderson Burora, said the exercise has been pushed further. Burora explained that they decided to extend the process because of an overwhelming number of riders seeking registration and the limited ability of teams handling the influx.
He added that the exercise was informed by the fact that schools are about to reopen for the third term and boda boda transport is the most modest means.
Boda Boda registration pushed
“We found it self shooting that learners are returning to schools and we are bringing down the modest means of transportation,” he said.
According to Burora, 45,000 out of the estimated 400,000 boda boda operators have been registered in Kampala.
The ongoing registration aims at slashing boda bodas from over 20,000 to 7,000 at stages and outside free zones in Kampala.
A section of boda boda operators have poked holes in the exercise calling it fake and illegal. The boda riders expressed fear that they would be displaced from stages they secured with amounts ranging from UGX500,000 to UGX1,000,000.
Similarly, the political wing at the KCCA, headed by the Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago claims the exercise is illegal and has since run to court to block it.
Lukwago recently sued the Attorney General, Minister for Kampala Capital City Authority, and Kampala Resident City Commissioner to block the training, registration and uniforming of boda boda riders.
The petition, among other things, sought judicial review on a directive by Kyofatogabye Kabuye, the Minister for KCCA, prohibiting all unregistered boda bodas from operating in the Kampala Metropolitan Area.
However, KCCA insists that the fees being charged are not for registration but training.
In April, the Ministry of Works and Transport, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), and the Police Force, in partnership with Uganda Driving Licensing Agency (UDSA), started training riders as part of the ongoing campaign by the government to organise the Boda Boda Industry.
According to the registration guidelines, a rider is required to pay at least UGX65,000, which includes UGX50,000 for training, UGX10,000 for medical examination and UGX5,000 for a recommendation from the leaders of the boda boda riders in Kampala organised under Boda Boda Industry Uganda.
Meanwhile, KCCA has also extended the Boda Boda Census programme rolled out in mid August, to register all riders.