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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Officers at Wandegeya police station have been accused of repeatedly impounding motorcycles from boda boda riders with the intention of extorting money from them.
This came after an operation in which hundreds of motorcycles said to be operating without the required documents were impounded in an operation conducted on Thursday. Most of the motorcycles were impounded at Wandegeya traffic lights by Field Force Unit personnel and traffic police officers.
Without any prior explanation, most of the boda boda riders were ordered to park their motorcycles in a nearby yard, while several others were seen in running battles with the police officers.
Dozens of motorcyclists lined up in lengthy queues outside the police station to secure their motorcycles. But they were asked to present the requisite documentation which included driving licenses, insurance and clear express penalty tickets issued to them for defying traffic guidelines.
Edward Balyebuza, a boda-boda rider from Kawempe said his motorcycle had most of the requirements but it was still confiscated.
Two others, Ibrahim Ssekyanzi and Godfrey Mugisha said that this is not the first time that Wandegeya police station is conducting such operations which are only used to extort money from them.
Ashraf Kizito, a motorcyclist from Entebbe said some police officers had earlier informed them that they would be required to pay 180,000 Shillings to reclaim their motorcycles. He fears that the operation was in retaliation for a police officer who was knocked from the traffic lights on Wednesday evening.
Charles Ssebambulidde, the traffic police spokesperson said the operations were aimed at enforcing COVID-19 control guidelines and reminding boda-boda riders to respect road safety regulations. He said that the operations which started on Thursday would continue and challenged those alleging extortion to come out with evidence to help police apprehend those involved.
Recently, Lawrence Niwabiine, the acting Director of Traffic Police said boda boda cyclists were the biggest group that violated traffic and road safety regulations as well as the COVID-19 orders.
“Most of the express penalty tickets we issued were about violating road safety regulations. Most of these people were boda-boda riders.
It is the most chaotic. We cautioned a number of them and those we gave tickets were violating the regulations almost every day,” Niwabiine said.
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