By KJohn Alinaitwe, Kyegegwa
Last year in November 2024, Dark clouds fell on Boda boda riders in Kyegegwa District after the boda boda District Chairperson Mr. Bob Tinka Apollo was handcuffed on charges related to murder. Family and friends have utilised different platforms but efforts to rescue him from behind bars still futile till date.
The arrest of Chairperson Boda-Boda who was the engine of the boda boda sector in Kyegegwa left colleagues in despair and others calling for restructuring leadership for the continuity of the boda boda operation in the district since Mr. Bob was a no nonsense man when it comes to the safety and rights of his colleagues.
Moving forward, The mayor Kyegegwa Town Council received a petition from a section of boda boda fraternity to intervene in the matter in conjunction with relevant authorities. The meeting between Boda boda riders with security headed by the Assistant RDC Kyegegwa District, the mayor Mr. Swaibu Musa Rutangi and other Technical staff took place in Kyegegwa Community hall on Tuesday 15th April 2025.
During the meeting, We observed two sections of boda bodas, The first section demanding for the boda boda leadership in town council and Another section believing in Bob directives despite behind bars. A section parallel to Bob’s Leadership approached mayor Swaibu Musa for intervention and he accorded them a temporary office as they get organised. This team asserts that “if other subcounties in the district have leadership, why not we in the town council” —one of the boda boda riders asked.
This demand differs from the current structure where by the town council Chairperson is also the district Chairperson, This constructs the district boda boda operator’s office to house the town council office also. However another section blamed the mayor for being involved in the arrest of Chairperson Boda-Boda Bob though he trashed the allegations against him saying they’re just tarnishing his name.
The day Bob declared to stand for mayoral position Kyegegwa Town Council since then we’ve never got peace as Boda boda riders. We’re 800 riders with 12 stages in Kyegegwa Town Council alone but living in total fear for our lives —The Chairperson Busega stage(Hapuuyo Stage), Mugambe Joseph said.
In addition to our findings, Majority boda boda riders welcome the idea of having town council leadership because they don’t believe they can have someone with strategic leadership style of the jailed Bob and no progress will be attained with the growing daily indifferences.
We can’t believe in someone else to be the district boda boda Chairperson, the district leadership is a scheme of Bob to milk money and without him, we can’t believe in someone else because he’s a unique guy with unique abilities. We need to elect town council leaders and have our leadership, What’s hurting is that the money sustaining District Office is collected from only Town Council riders, Why can’t we have our office? — Health Secretary, Omuhereza Mbogo commonly known as majje speaking to us
However, Ahead of every election season boda boda riders are organised and used to push different political agendas thus calling for an organised fraternity.
In conclusion, the stakeholders resolved to handle the matter with utmost attention vowing to restore unity and sanity in the progress of boda boda business in the district.
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