{"id":54776,"date":"2023-08-25T10:03:54","date_gmt":"2023-08-25T10:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/bus-operators-call-off-strike"},"modified":"2023-08-25T11:48:12","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T11:48:12","slug":"bus-operators-call-off-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/bus-operators-call-off-strike","title":{"rendered":"Bus operators call off strike"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Bus operators yesterday called off their three-day strike after receiving a letter from the Ministry of Local Government inviting them for a meeting today.<\/p>\n

The strike that has been ongoing since August 22, saw thousands of travellers stranded in the six bus terminals in Kampala City. The strike also saw taxi operators take advantage of the situation to hike transport fares to upcountry destinations.<\/p>\n

There was a sigh of relief yesterday from travellers as bus operations resumed at around 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

There was a bee-hive of activity as travellers made their way into the buses. Bus drivers could be seen rejoicing; luggage carriers, food vendors, touts, ton boys\/men whose jobs had been affected by the strike were all in high spirits.<\/p>\n

Ms Hope Arinaitwe, who we found in Kisenyi Bus Terminal boarding a bus to Mbarara District, said she was so happy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can now travel in peace; this strike has affected our businesses. Let the responsible people solve their problems so that we don\u2019t have such a crisis again,\u201d Ms Arinaitwe said.<\/p>\n

Mr Simon Odong, who was boarding a bus to Soroti District, said he was overjoyed to see that bus operations had resumed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I am travelling long distances, I only use buses because they are convenient with fresh air. This strike has really affected me because I travel in buses at least twice a week,\u201d Mr Odong said.<\/p>\n

Information from a bus operators\u2019 association suggests that at least 44,850 people use buses every day to different parts of the country and across borders. That figure represents the maximum number of 65 people who are believed to board each of the 690 buses which operate from or within Uganda daily.<\/p>\n

A senior official with the association, Mr Robert Mutebi said <\/b>yesterday that they suspended the strike following a meeting over new Shs2.4 million annual levy, and the scheduling of another sit-down at the Ministry of Local Government today.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith due respect to the government, and with due respect to our customers, we have decided to temporarily suspend our sit-down strike,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not want to close business again, because it affects the public, we pray that the government can listen to our pleas and scrap this tax.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minister of Local Government Raphael Magyezi yesterday said: \u201cWe shall resolve the matter tomorrow; we shall be with KCCA, Minister of Works, Minister of Trade and our permanent secretaries and we shall resolve this matter\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a February 23 letter to Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, bus operators had requested that government drops implementation of the park user fees of Shs2.4 million per bus, per year, among others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current charges are many and high. They should be consolidated into one affordable fee. We pray that all the taxies\/levies for acquiring a licence should be combined into a total fee of Shs1,840,000, per bus, to apply as a total and final annual fee for a licence to the government,\u201d the letter reads in part.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, blamed the government for the dispute, saying the problem arose when KCCA privatised bus transport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sold off Uganda Transport Company, we don\u2019t own a single bus park or terminal, it\u2019s a very big crisis. So if you don\u2019t own a park as government and you want revenue and to regulate transport, then you have a problem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the aftermath of the demise of Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association, we had a vacuum on how to manage taxi parks and collect revenue. My policy direction was to enact an ordinance to regulate public transport in Kampala because we have that mandate under the KCCA Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Lukwago said they initially wanted to have separate ordinances for boda bodas, buses, and taxis but eventually agreed to consolidate it into one, but government with Ms Jenifer Musisi as the then executive director of KCCA changed positions suddenly<\/p>\n

\u201cMs Jennifer Musisi unilaterally, arbitrarily and illegally came up with a fee of Shs120,000 to be levied on each matatu. Matatu operators went to court to challenge that decision which was never sanctioned by KCCA and they won the case. But at that time, even the bus operators were not paying and after three years they went to State House where monthly fees were scrap by the President and figures agreed upon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Lukwago said that with bus parks being owned by private individuals another problem of legality arises.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you purport to charge a park user fee as government over a property which you do not own, that is an illegality or double taxation. Even collecting the money by URA is illegal since KCCA is not an agent of URA, whoever purports to collect funds on behalf of KCCA is working outside the law,\u201d Mr Lukwago said.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cYes, we need to collect revenue but these must be well structured within the law, if they want a streamlined levy, let them go back to Cabinet, make a law to regulate transport countrywide and have a national legislation made by Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Bus operators yesterday called off their three-day strike after receiving a letter from the Ministry of Local Government inviting them for a meeting today. The strike that has been ongoing since August 22, saw thousands of travellers stranded in the six bus terminals in Kampala City. The strike also saw taxi operators […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":54775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-54776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nBus operators call off strike - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bus operators yesterday called off their three-day strike after receiving a letter from the Ministry of Local Government ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/bus-operators-call-off-strike\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bus operators call off strike\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bus operators yesterday called off their three-day strike after receiving a letter from the Ministry of Local Government ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/bus-operators-call-off-strike\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-25T10:03:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-25T11:48:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/08\/sm_1692947693.080826.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"688\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/bus-operators-call-off-strike#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/bus-operators-call-off-strike\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Bus operators call off strike\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-25T10:03:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-25T11:48:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/bus-operators-call-off-strike\"},\"wordCount\":861,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/bus-operators-call-off-strike#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2023\/08\/sm_1692947693.080826.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/bus-operators-call-off-strike#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/bus-operators-call-off-strike\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/bus-operators-call-off-strike\",\"name\":\"Bus operators call off strike - 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