Taxi Drivers from across Kampala on Sunday threatened to storm State House Entebbe to protest their continued suffering and torture at the hands of Kampala Capital City Authorities (KCCA). The taxi drivers for the last couple of years have been operating in two factions one allied to Mustafa Mayambala who leads the Kampala Taxi Operators Leadership and the other allied to a one Yasin Ssematimba who leads the Kampala Operational Taxi Stages Association (KOTSA) and which the Mayambala faction has accused of conniving with Kampala Capital City Authorities to frustrate them. The Kampala Taxi Operators Leadership led by Mustafa Mayambala was duly elected and is legally recognized as the Taxi Park management entity. However they have been frustrated ever since they came into office a couple of years ago by Ssematimba’s faction the KOTSA which comprises of former UTODA (Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association) Leadership that is now defunct. Taxi drivers allied to the Kampala Taxi Operators Leadership have accused the KOTSA faction of conniving with KCCA to levy exorbitant taxi park dues and passing harsh penalties.
Taxi Drivers allied to the Mayambala Faction contend that they pay close to Shs 700,000 in fines in addition to having there taxis hijacked and dragged to city hall over illegal loading of passengers from outside the park. The Taxi drivers are also protesting the Shs 120,000 monthly license fee that KCCA in collaboration with the KOTSA faction is charging them and yet high court ruled that the fee was too high and needed be reduced to a reasonable amount. However Jennifer Musisi adamantly refused to obey court’s decision. The Taxi drivers have accused several KCCA enforcement officials and KOTSA taxi drivers of turning into serial extortionists who need to be dealt with.
IGP Kale Kayihura has chaired several meetings and failed to resolve the issues and referred them to the big man. He calmed down their tempers at the Katabi Football Grounds on Sunday where they had camped and threatened to storm State House to meet the big man to intervene and solve their issues for good. The Mayambala faction asserts that the space in the different taxi parks is too small to accommodate the huge number of taxis operating in and around the city.
“Many of us have resorted to loading passengers from outside the park to avoid the confusion and congestion arising from loading passengers inside the taxi parks. So we are appealing to the President to kindly intervene and solve the issues because we are being forced to pay exorbitant fines and yet we pay the mandatory monthly Shs 120,000 license fee” a Taxi Driver allied to the Mayambala Faction stated.
