Boda registration extended amidst disagreements
In February of this year, the State Minister for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs Mr. Kabuye Kyofatogabye gave an ultimatum of July 1 for boda boda riders to be registered or leave the city. According to Bukedde, a local newspaper, only 4,000 boda riders had been registered by the due date — leading to a two-month extension. The five months long exercise was shunned by the majority of boda riders, following contradiction and confusion from the many involved parties: the Uganda Driving Standards Agency (UDSA), the police, Ministry of Works and Transport, KCCA, Ministry for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs, and the various boda boda associations across the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area.
While the exercise was presented as a move to organize boda riders and streamline their operations, where regulations and identification was key, voices around the industry show that it was perceived by many boda riders as a plot to fleece them.
The registration exercise has been happening at Kira Road police playground, where a large sign was pinned that indicates collaboration between the concerned authorities, but with little indication of collaboration with boda leadership.
At the beginning of the exercise, boda riders were required to pay a registration fee of 60,000 UGX (~$16). Operations were opposed by the leaders of the major boda associations who expressed worry that boda riders from distant districts would get registered instead of the members of Kampala stages. These associations later secured a desk at the registration ground and started collecting 5,000 UGX ($1.25) from each of the prospective boda riders as a recommendation fee. The registered boda riders were given specific training days, promised medical checks including for sight and mental health, and discounted driving licenses, and received UDSA driving school identity cards on completion of the five-day training.
Prior to the government-led registration, boda leaders across the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA) had resolved to numb their long held internal conflicts and work towards a common goal. This decision, which was reached through several joint meetings, was triggered by KCCA’s threats to eject boda riders from the Central Business District.
The boda leaders’ joint efforts, which engaged boda leadership from the stage to the district level, initially bore fruit. The flagship reform was the introduction of boda riders’ uniforms with different colors for each of the divisions of the GKMA, as promoted by a joint group of division-level boda leaders.
During the first few months of the joint operations, boda riders began mobilizing themselves, buying and adopting the uniforms, and seeking support from the authorities to secure legitimisation of the uniforms. But there was contradiction from another umbrella association, Bodaboda Industry Uganda (BBIU), which also introduced similar uniforms and opposed the efforts of the allied division level boda associations. The effort resulted in a meeting that was convened by the Ministry of Works and Transport, held at the ministry’s premises on January 20, 2022. In this meeting, the host (the Ministry of Works and Transport), the Ministry for Kampala and Metropolitan Affairs, the Ministry of Security, the KCCA, Uganda police, and boda leaders from all the five divisions of Kampala, were represented — but not the Boda Boda Industry Uganda (BBIU) leaders.
The boda leaders who attended were applauded for creating the uniforms which had QR codes, stage names, and all rider details on them. However, buying and selling of the uniforms was discouraged by the remarks that Mr. Kabuye Kyofatogabye gave while addressing journalists at The Media Center. Mr. Kabuye said that boda riders would be required to wear uniforms after successful registration . His remarks were generally perceived as denouncing the boda leaders’ efforts as premature, and ignored the BBIU’s similar efforts. This undermined boda riders’ trust in their associations and leadership.
Consequently, members of the Stage Owners WhatsApp group complained that uniform sales at the bodaboda offices dropped sharply, and the few boda uniforms which would be seen on streets started to disappear.
Relations with government officials were also hurt when government officials said that there is a need for a mental health checkup for all boda riders — perceived as an unnecessary insult to the entire boda industry. “If they thought we are mad, they shouldn’t have charged us money for the checkup. They should have taken us to Butabika [Mental Hospital] and tested us for free,” said Hussein, one of the boda riders who shunned the registration due to the mental health remarks.
The competing interests and failure of the government authorities themselves to work in harmony, deflected boda leaders’ successes and led boda riders to shun the first attempt of the registration exercise. During the current extension of the exercise boda riders’ turnout remains low, despite the ejection threats.
In addition to the low numbers, there are politicians’ anti-registration voices including that of the Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago who went to court to seek termination of the ongoing boda registrations. Once again, attempts at registration have been undermined by an unwillingness to work with boda boda associations’ moves towards self-regulation and a high-handed dismissal of boda boda riders — this time being labeled mentally ill.
While the authorities’ failures drag on, Banakampala’s transportation needs are unchanged, and bodabodas remain in high demand.
