Ono Bwino can exclusively report that the leadership of Uganda Tax Operators Federation (UTOF) are lobbying for a meeting with President Museveni immediately after his swearing-in to discuss a number of issues which they claim are affecting the transport industry in the country.
Musatafah Mayamba the UTOF national vice chairperson confirmed the development of pushing the said meeting with the president adding that they will also use the opportunity to report to him the double standards exhibited by Hajat Sharif Buzeki during his leadership as the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Executive Director.
“Buzeki thinks that she will be used to push us out of the transport business in Kampala, but that is day dreaming. Jennifer also thought so but we defeated her, we are now going to pull all our energy and face Buzeki and the President should know that some people serving in his government have double standards,” a furious Mayambala said.
He claims that for years, UTOF has been at the centre of changing the transport business in Kampala revealing that they even approached a German investor who was willing to partner with Museveni’s government through Kira Motors to find cheap access to electric buses.
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“Kira Motors management told us that they are working on orders, and to be considered you have to first deposit a certain amount of money which we did not have as tax drivers. However, the German investor was willing to help us through a partnership with our government. The investor abandoned the deal after being asked for a bribe to seal the deal, and we lost so the President needs to know all that,” Mayambala said.
He added that because they know that electric cars are the way to go, they decided to engage Uganda Development Bank (UDB) through Minister Haruna Kasolo’s Microfinance to secure a loan to place an order at Kira Motors and pay after and they have been pushing for the deal.
He added that Monica Musenero, the Minister for Science and Technology has been helping them to seal a deal with Kira Motors but when the mafias in government got the information that the deal was about to be sealed, through Buzeki, they took over and without consulting them deployed electric buses in the city under the guise of testing them to establish whether they can work.
“How can you bring electric buses with internet and free pay phones in it when the prices of fuel are very high. But Buzeki should know that we are city born, we shall defeat her project as we defeated pioneer buses. We also need to be involved in those projects as stakeholders,” Mayambala said.
KCCA spokesperson Daniel Nuwabine rubbished the allegations that her boss is fighting tax operations in Kampala noting that talks with UTOF leadership are still ongoing.
However, outgoing Kampala minister Christopher Kabuye Kyofatogabye boasted that nothing is going to change concerning the decision on the electric buses.
