Boda Boda cyclists – a blessing or curse for Ugandans?

By Group One

Hate it or love it, motorbikes commonly known as ‘boda boda’s, a regular form of transport in Kampala city, are here to stay. When one visits Kampala town for the first time, you will be amazed by the numerous ‘boda bodas’ that have turned the city into a nightmare.

The Central Business District (CBD) is literally awash with activities during day. Cars and ‘boda bodas’ hooting, noises, hustle and bustle of motorcycles speeding menacingly on the city streets, literally daring motorists to knock them. They drive by the pot hole-filled roads at supersonic speeds as if they are cruising on a smooth highway. Boda bodas are everywhere al the time and unless one is careful when running errands in town you could easily get knocked by them.

Though they have congested the city, boda bodas are not so much affected by the endless jams in town during rush hush. They always somehow get past traffic jams and speed off. But it is amazing how passengers on this ‘boda bodas’ sit comfortably as they travel in them. You can see men and women chatting away on their phones with some beaming cheerfully -- a clear sign that they are enjoying the ride.

But why would anyone venture into this otherwise risky business of bodas? Martin Musasizi, a boda boda cyclist, says that they do it for survival, and explains that his family of seven depends on this business and he has been able to educate his two younger siblings upto A-levels.

Lutaaya Ronnie, also a boda boda cyclist, says he chose to do this work to earn a livelihood as white collar jobs are hard to come by. But he says there are too many problems in the business. “The police ask for bribes from us if you don’t have third party insurance cover," he says.  Purchasing the cover is not easy as the money they make is not enough. They have to pay parking fees for their bodas and increased fuel costs.

When the Kampala City Council (KCC) issued a warning to boda boda cyclists not to operate in the city unless they had helmets for their passengers there was a hue and cry from the more than 20,000 boda boda cyclists operating in Kampala. Shortly afterwards the KCC issued another warning to boda bodas and banned boda bodas from plying certain routes and from entering the Central Business District (CBD) as a measure of de-congesting the city centre.

Another boda boda cyclist, SSekikubo Herbert, complains that passengers cannot agree to share helmets and therefore they will lose business if the policy is passed. He also says due to the low income they get, they cannot afford to buy these helmets and is appealing to the police to drop this demand.

Some passengers we interviewed are opposed to this new directive. “Although boda bodas are a menace, they help us get to work on time. You can imagine how stressing it is arriving in the office all sweaty, dirty because of the dusty shortcuts that you have to use and getting so tired to even work!” says Agnes Mubiru, a regular commuter on boda boda.
 
A passenger, Kalisima Godfrey, says he uses ‘boda boda’ since he lives in a remote area where vehicles are scarce. “At night when you have a patient or an emergency “boda bodas come in handy to ferry them to the hospital,” he states.

But Kyeyune Godfrey had a slightly different view. He thinks boda bodas should be phased off because they are a nuisance. “They make you pay double or even more than what you would use for transport in a taxi,” he laments. But even as people like Kyekune grumble over boda bodas, another group of people are earning a living out of it. Most of these cyclists have done the business for more than a decade and depend on it to feed their families.
 
But the sad thing is that even as this large group of people depend on boda boda for survival, the government of Uganda doesn’t seem to realize the economic impact this otherwise large group of people have in the country.

Like the elderly Kaweesi Franco, who has been a boda boda cyclist for 11 years and says he has managed to support himself and his family since he became an orphan. He says they secure loans from banks to purchase ‘boda bodas’ and if they fail to pay the loan because of this new regulations that are hampering their business they will be taken to jail by the banks.

And as usual, politicians have gotten a catch here as they are synonymous with using people's plight to gain political mileage. It has been reported severally in the Ugandan media that they are playing with the ‘boda boda’ fiasco. A recent example was when no sooner had the deputy mayor banned the boda boda cyclists from entering the CBD and ordered them to start using helmets than a group of politicians threatened to sack her if she dared make real her threats.

This otherwise important alternative means of transport has never been recognized by the ministry of transport and policy makers. Having found entry in major towns in the country, including the country’s capital city Kampala, the government still does not seem to notice its contribution to the society.
 
Although many might see it as cheaper and a sure way of reducing traffic jam in the city, the issue of safety for both the passenger and the driver cannot be ignored. It is true that this alternative means of transport has its own risks. First is the competition for space on the road with vehicles since no special roads have been set up for ‘bodas only, and chances are that one is likely to be knocked off by the constant over-speeding ‘boda bodas’..
 
There is yet another risk of lack of insurance cover for both the driver and the passenger. In case of an accident, a passenger is supposed to take charge of anything that happens because the bodas are not insured.
 
But since we cannot deny the fact that boda bodas are here to stay, perhaps the Government through the Ministry of Transport should consider this alternative means. A policy should be formulated and be put in force to cater for the insurance and control of this industry.

Recently, police in Uganda were tracking down un-roadworthy vehicles, and it is important that they also regulate and track down any faulty motorbikes likely to cause accidents. However,  such measures can only happen if a proper and effective policy has been established.
 
In Holland for instance, special roads have been constructed for bikes in busy city streets -- hence competition for space on roads has been reduced. I believe that Uganda & any other African country can adopt this practice to reduce the nightmare of spending one to two hours in traffic jams, especially in the city centre.
 
Besides, if we have to fight poverty and achieve the millennium development goals within the scheduled timeframe, then this is one of the ways to fight unemployment among the youth and help this group earn a decent living and avoid crime.

Now 6 months old in Kampala, I have come to appreciate the swiftness and spirit of survival of boda boda cyclists in Uganda.

By Group One

Hate it or love it, motorbikes commonly known as ‘boda boda’s, a regular form of transport in Kampala city, are here to stay. When one visits Kampala town for the first time, you will be amazed by the numerous ‘boda bodas’ that have turned the city into a nightmare.

The Central Business District (CBD) is literally awash with activities during day. Cars and ‘boda bodas’ hooting, noises, hustle and bustle of motorcycles speeding menacingly on the city streets, literally daring motorists to knock them. They drive by the pot hole-filled roads at supersonic speeds as if they are cruising on a smooth highway. Boda bodas are everywhere al the time and unless one is careful when running errands in town you could easily get knocked by them.

Though they have congested the city, boda bodas are not so much affected by the endless jams in town during rush hush. They always somehow get past traffic jams and speed off. But it is amazing how passengers on this ‘boda bodas’ sit comfortably as they travel in them. You can see men and women chatting away on their phones with some beaming cheerfully -- a clear sign that they are enjoying the ride.

But why would anyone venture into this otherwise risky business of bodas? Martin Musasizi, a boda boda cyclist, says that they do it for survival, and explains that his family of seven depends on this business and he has been able to educate his two younger siblings upto A-levels.

Lutaaya Ronnie, also a boda boda cyclist, says he chose to do this work to earn a livelihood as white collar jobs are hard to come by. But he says there are too many problems in the business. “The police ask for bribes from us if you don’t have third party insurance cover," he says.  Purchasing the cover is not easy as the money they make is not enough. They have to pay parking fees for their bodas and increased fuel costs.

When the Kampala City Council (KCC) issued a warning to boda boda cyclists not to operate in the city unless they had helmets for their passengers there was a hue and cry from the more than 20,000 boda boda cyclists operating in Kampala. Shortly afterwards the KCC issued another warning to boda bodas and banned boda bodas from plying certain routes and from entering the Central Business District (CBD) as a measure of de-congesting the city centre.

Another boda boda cyclist, SSekikubo Herbert, complains that passengers cannot agree to share helmets and therefore they will lose business if the policy is passed. He also says due to the low income they get, they cannot afford to buy these helmets and is appealing to the police to drop this demand.

Some passengers we interviewed are opposed to this new directive. “Although boda bodas are a menace, they help us get to work on time. You can imagine how stressing it is arriving in the office all sweaty, dirty because of the dusty shortcuts that you have to use and getting so tired to even work!” says Agnes Mubiru, a regular commuter on boda boda.
 
A passenger, Kalisima Godfrey, says he uses ‘boda boda’ since he lives in a remote area where vehicles are scarce. “At night when you have a patient or an emergency “boda bodas come in handy to ferry them to the hospital,” he states.

But Kyeyune Godfrey had a slightly different view. He thinks boda bodas should be phased off because they are a nuisance. “They make you pay double or even more than what you would use for transport in a taxi,” he laments. But even as people like Kyekune grumble over boda bodas, another group of people are earning a living out of it. Most of these cyclists have done the business for more than a decade and depend on it to feed their families.
 
But the sad thing is that even as this large group of people depend on boda boda for survival, the government of Uganda doesn’t seem to realize the economic impact this otherwise large group of people have in the country.

Like the elderly Kaweesi Franco, who has been a boda boda cyclist for 11 years and says he has managed to support himself and his family since he became an orphan. He says they secure loans from banks to purchase ‘boda bodas’ and if they fail to pay the loan because of this new regulations that are hampering their business they will be taken to jail by the banks.

And as usual, politicians have gotten a catch here as they are synonymous with using people's plight to gain political mileage. It has been reported severally in the Ugandan media that they are playing with the ‘boda boda’ fiasco. A recent example was when no sooner had the deputy mayor banned the boda boda cyclists from entering the CBD and ordered them to start using helmets than a group of politicians threatened to sack her if she dared make real her threats.

This otherwise important alternative means of transport has never been recognized by the ministry of transport and policy makers. Having found entry in major towns in the country, including the country’s capital city Kampala, the government still does not seem to notice its contribution to the society.
 
Although many might see it as cheaper and a sure way of reducing traffic jam in the city, the issue of safety for both the passenger and the driver cannot be ignored. It is true that this alternative means of transport has its own risks. First is the competition for space on the road with vehicles since no special roads have been set up for ‘bodas only, and chances are that one is likely to be knocked off by the constant over-speeding ‘boda bodas’..
 
There is yet another risk of lack of insurance cover for both the driver and the passenger. In case of an accident, a passenger is supposed to take charge of anything that happens because the bodas are not insured.
 
But since we cannot deny the fact that boda bodas are here to stay, perhaps the Government through the Ministry of Transport should consider this alternative means. A policy should be formulated and be put in force to cater for the insurance and control of this industry.

Recently, police in Uganda were tracking down un-roadworthy vehicles, and it is important that they also regulate and track down any faulty motorbikes likely to cause accidents. However,  such measures can only happen if a proper and effective policy has been established.
 
In Holland for instance, special roads have been constructed for bikes in busy city streets -- hence competition for space on roads has been reduced. I believe that Uganda & any other African country can adopt this practice to reduce the nightmare of spending one to two hours in traffic jams, especially in the city centre.
 
Besides, if we have to fight poverty and achieve the millennium development goals within the scheduled timeframe, then this is one of the ways to fight unemployment among the youth and help this group earn a decent living and avoid crime.

Now 6 months old in Kampala, I have come to appreciate the swiftness and spirit of survival of boda boda cyclists in Uganda.