In President Museveni’s last three nation addresses about COVID-19, he has insisted that there is no way boda bodas can practice social distancing since the passenger sits close to the rider, and the fact that they can penetrate deep into areas where other means of transport can’t reach in the community can easily increase the spread of COVID-19.
With that in mind coupled with the advice of ‘scientists’, Museveni has told boda bodas to keep carrying cargo/luggage until there is a permanent solution to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This has not settled well with boda boda riders, as many of them say they take days without even getting a single piece of luggage to transport, and so a section of them became creative and invented a safety shield that prevents physical contact between the rider and passenger.
Today, a technical team from the Ministry of Works and Transport and another from Makerere University have inspected this new invention, how it works and how it will be safely implemented so that boda bodas can return to carrying passengers during the pandemic.
Yesterday, a team of boda boda leaders from Kira Municipality petitioned the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga to look into their concerns, saying that transporting luggage alone cannot sustain their livelihoods, and she promised to advise government accordingly.