In one of
the usual crazy rush hours, -the mornings when we snake our ways to places of
hustle, a police man in Kampala chanced and learnt his good lesson the hard way,
on me. I hope he now knows that it’s a sin to insult an elder’s son. As a
responsible Ugandan, I drove my Japanese crap with precision, veneration and natural
respect and affection for other road users.
Close to
20 motorcycle (boda-boda) riders filled up my way and I couldn’t knock them
down to proceed, but the man in uniform turned his frustration on me. “Should I
run on them to create way sir?”, I asked with open hands like we do in Church. I
didn’t expect the response to be as ugly from this tall, dark-skinned gentleman
carrying a mere whistle. “You are stupid, you move, you are the ones making
them to fill up the road”.
I kept on
my breaks as the wild riders controlled space on a wrong lane at the watch of a
churlish combatant. Next, one of the tipsy -looking riders hit my wise man down.
The government trouser is torn. I spotted blood oozing out. More riders
struggle to secure an escape route for their suspect colleague.
At my spot,
another officer- female is taken aback by what she is seeing, but she is
helpless. No gun. Too much honking by the riding gang. In fact, the suspect
must have disappeared in the thin air, helped by his unruly clique. I needed to
stay put and watch how insults are indeed the last resort of insecure people with
a crumbling position trying to appear confident.
As fate
would have it, my road cleared so fast. I watched backwards through the mirror
with a grin. Forgive me Jesus for feeling good when a brother’s blood was
pouring out like yours some 1,900 years ago.
It’s high
time police put our rowdy riders to order. It’s mindboggling why traffic police
allow motorcycle riders to operate unlawfully on our roads. It wasn’t right for
the traffic officer who got knocked down to shout at me when my way was clogged
by outright traffic offenders.
Someone told
me that, “it’s not lucrative to arrest a boda-boda rider”. I can’t comprehend this
statement. It sounds duplicitous and clearly unreligious. What value then do we
get from arresting a car driver compared to a boda-boda rider? The logic in
here is illicit, sham and a significant disarray.
This is
not the first time I am writing about boda-boda riders’ poor conduct on our
City roads. It’s an incurring problem. Statistics on road carnage in this
Country highly incriminates motorcycle riders. When shall we outlive this
impunity and be sure of travelling safe on our roads without unethical drivers
compromising set standards.
A police traffic
accident report for July this year says, 432 accidents were recorded. Of this,
97 fatal, 202 were serious and 133 minor. Up to 100 lives were lost due to
these accidents within the period and 324 victims sustained injuries. The
report adds that the number of those who perished due to motorcycle related mishaps
within the period were 82(42 motorcycle users, 13 passengers, 29 riders and 40
pedestrians). This means within one month alone, motorcycles contributed to 82%
of all road carnage cases.
These statistics
paint a picture that should evoke a national intervention to realign the use of
motorcycles. Consideration for mindset change, strict enforcement of penalties
and restricting riding paths and lanes ought to be made. We must pray and work
for our country. Let's also respect each other, despite our power centers.
