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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Kampala Capital City Authority-KCCA has extended the deadline for registration of boda bodas, riders, and owners.
Speaking on Thursday at the Uganda Media Center in Kampala, the KCCA Deputy Executive Director Eng. David Luyimbazi said that many people flocked to their registration centers at the last minute to register prompting KCCA to extend the deadline to September 16.
Registration of boda bodas in Kampala started on August 15, at eleven centers spread in the five divisions of Kampala.
Luyimbazi said that since many of their registration centers were located at schools that are soon re-opening, the registration centers will be shifted to the respective five divisions of Kampala.
The registration is undertaken as part of the efforts to streamline operations of boda bodas in Kampala and deal with the security threat posed by criminals who disguise themselves as boda boda riders.
According to KCCA, only registered boda riders who have been trained will be allowed to operate in the city.
Records from KCCA indicate that there are more than 100,000 boda bodas in Kampala. But Fortune Biira, who heads the registration program at KCCA says that 20,000 motorcycles have so far been registered, with an estimate of 3,000 boda bodas registered daily from all the five divisions of Kampala.
But as KCCA extends the deadline for registration, some riders are still questioning its objectives especially after they had registered and trained in a program conducted by the Ministry of Works and Transport, KCCA, Police, and Uganda Driving Licensing Agency.
In February, the State Minister for Kampala Kabuye Kyofatogabye issued guidelines to streamline operations of boda bodas in Kampala and the metropolitan areas.
The guidelines included registration of riders, training in proper road use, medical examination of riders, and acquisition of driving permits by all riders.
Umar Isabirye, the Chairman of Boda Boda Industry Association in Makindye Division says government programs are unclear, wondering why instead of KCCA picking registration details of riders from the Ministry of Works and UDSA, they have to conduct an independent exercise.
He also questioned why riders from outside Kampala and without stages in Kampala shall be registered as riders in the city.
“The census I know is when the government comes to the people and counts them from where they are. KCCA has to come to stages and pick information from there, not staging at particular centres and calling everyone to come. So who are they registering? How do they know that the person is from Kampala? They should get organized and stop consuming riders’ time in endless processes,” said Isabirye.
Previously, Luyimbazi had said that after registration, KCCA shall designate boda boda stages, determine the number of riders per stage, give them uniforms each with a QR code that can be scanned to view details of the rider, and that a tracking device too shall be installed in the motorcycles.
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