The Lord Mayor of Kampala, Erias Lukwago has vehemently refused to side with a decision to realign the public transport business in Kampala.
Lukwago insists that it is his mandate and his council to strategize programs geared towards the development of the city.
He says this cabinet order paper cannot be implemented without approval from city leadership and the current lockdown has made it impossible for council meetings of any nature to convene.
He says he had already moved to formulate an ordinance to regulate operations of taxis and Boda Bodas in the city before the act was amended.
This comes shortly after the Minister for Kampala and metropolitan affairs released a Cabinet information Paper on changes in the operation of mainly Bodabodas and Taxis.
The plan is to halt public transport for close to a month after the lockdown is lifted to give room to technocrats to carefully craft to life a model for the necessary changes.
Therefore taxis will be halted for 28 days whereas BodaBodas will wait 21 days before carrying passengers, however, in the meantime, they will continue carrying cargo.
Among the changes, Taxis will operate in designated stages in Kampala city center with card numbers for a particular route so as not to crowd the city.
As for Boda Boda’s they will be attached to digital service providers who are already licensed to operate like SafeBoda, Uber, and Bolt among others.
They will also be designated 540 stages in the city with each having a specific number and be expected to ply specific routes as per their numbers.
A bodaboda free zone will be created that will see some spots in Kampala without them.
According to the KCCA Act, as amended, the Lord Mayor is supposed to initiate strategies and programs for the development of the capital.
