Taxi drivers leaders under their national umbrella the Uganda Tax Operators Federation (UTOF) have stormed president Museveni’s young brother Gen Salim Saleh’s Gulu residence seeking for his intervention to save their jobs after receiving threatening statements from Works and Transport minister Fred Byamukama.
Minister Byamukama recently said that the government is planning to streamline the public transport countrywide and come up with measures which will be used to decrease the number of motor accidents which kill Ugandans.
In the expected mechanism, the Minister said that the government is planning to ban old taxes and buses from operating on the country’s roads.
UTOF through their national chairperson Rashid Ssekindi strongly protested the minister’s plan and in response, the minister assured Ssekindi and group that they are not recognised by government.
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The taxi drivers are scared that the government is set to take over their jobs by entering into partnership with big companies which plan to bring buses and other commune taxis which are in good condition to run the public transportation business in the country.
As a result, two weeks back, Ssekindi and his vice chairperson Mustafa Mayambala led a delegation and stormed Gen Saleh pleading with him to intervene and tame minister Byamukama who is threatening their jobs.
They argued that they tried talking to Gen Edward Katumba Wamala the senior works and transport minister but they were not helped.
They also went with a proposal to Gen Saleh to connect them to Microfinance.institutions and cooperative Minister Harunah Kasolo to enter into a deal that will see them borrow billions of money from the government which they will use to modernise and upgrade their jobs.
The drivers told Gen Saleh that they have already entered into negotiations with a Japanese company which is ready to give them communal buses which they will pay for in instalments because they heard that the government is also bringing buses to operate on the roads.
The drivers further explained to the General that each bus will cost them between Shs180-200m. They pleaded with him asserting that even though they don’t have this amount of money right now, they still want to control their business
However, Gen Saleh was not happy with tax drivers’ leaders. He told them that they are using their offices to mistreat and mismanage tax drivers and conductors and they are using security and government bosses to stop their organization’s elections because they are scared that they will lose the elections.
Ssekindi explained to the General that the problem they have with taxi conductors is that they also want to vote in the elections and also contest for positions of leadership even though the constitution only allows drivers with driving permits.
He admitted that they have two constitutions, one that allows conductors with driving permits to vote and another one that only talks about drivers.
He however promised that they are fighting to harmonise those issues and get new leaders.
On the issue of mistreating drivers to the extent of hiring goons moving on cars that resemble security patrols, Ssekindi explained that the decision was taken to instill discipline among tax drivers and conductors by preventing them from loading from ungazetted places.
However, even though they explained a lot to Gen Saleh, he concluded the meeting without assuring them that he was going to help them even though he promised that he is going to talk to stakeholders to see how they are going to help them.
Sources said that leaders in the Ministry of Works and Transport and those in Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) are tired of Mayambala and Ssekindi because they mistreat fellow drivers and conductors and have on several occasions been implicated in corruption practices.
Their accusers allege that the duo even shared tax stages where they collect money daily and don’t account for it.
They disclosed that they are planning to involve Beti Namisango Kamya the Inspector General of Government to intervene and investigate them and if evidence pining them is produced, they will be prosecuted in courts of law.
