A number of Boda-Boda riders are struggling to implement the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). Boda bodas resumed their operations this morning following the relaxation of the nationwide lockdown announced in March to contain the spread of the #Covid19.
Last week, President, Yoweri Museveni allowed Boda-Boda riders to resume their operations under strict guidelines.
He said each of the riders would be required to wear a helmet, mask, provide sanitizer to sanitize their passengers, seat and register the details of all passengers.
This morning, our reporter moved around Kampala to see how the riders were complying with the Standard Operating Procedures-SOPs but found only a handful of the riders complying with the SOPs.
Some of the Boda-Boda riders in the areas of Maganjo, Kawempe, Bwaise Kalerwe, Mpererwe, Ntinda, Bukoto and Kamwokya had sanitizers, helmets and wore masks.
The riders were not taking records of the passengers.
Moses Ssentongo, a Boda boda rider who had just dropped a passenger told us that he tried asking for the telephone number and names of his customers in vain.
Johnson Mugomba, a safe boda rider in Ntinda, told Eagle Online that they might try to fulfill other requirements apart from recording the details of a customer. He explains how his first customer refused to provide her details adding that she told him that she has no phone contact and national identity card.
Martin Muganga chairperson of King of Kings boda stage in Kamwokya notes that the two customers he has already got have refused to provide their details. He says that according to him, it is hard to practically implement the SOPs because even customers are difficult to handle.
Female passengers that this reporter talked to argue that as ladies, providing their details to boda boda riders might put them in danger and Brenda Komugisha who used a boda from bwaise to acacia mall explains that if they insist, she has to provide wrong details.
She explains that even boda riders are not implementing these SOPs they were instructed by the president.
Emily Natasha, a passenger from Bukoto, notes that it has been a hustle for her to travel to work every day since she’s used to using boda bodas. She has been using a taxi to town which she says the taxis have been overcharging them.
She however says that it will be very hard for her to give out her details to a boda boda rider, arguing that her number is her private identity and that she has a right to determine who should have it or not.
However, David Lubega, another motorcyclist says so far he has carried twelve passengers and he has been successful in getting the names and contacts though he has failed on getting the NIN numbers.
