The 5,000 Shillings Game Bus Drivers and Traffic Police Play on Ugandan Highways

23 August 2023, 12:06 pm

By Emmy Daniel Ojara

A recent police report indicates that at least 10 people have died in road carnages along Gulu-Kampala Highway in one week.

Buses contribute to the highest cause of the carnages, they are attributed to road indiscipline, driving vehicles under dangerous mechanical conditions, speeding, drink-driving, and the use of phones while driving.

According to the Annual Crime Report 2022, the country registered 20,394 cases of road accidents in 2022 compared to 17,443 registered the previous year.

Police said out of every 100 crashes, 22 people died while 61 percent of all accidents were as a result of reckless driving.

In response to the increasing incidents of reckless driving and speeding on highways, authorities, including the Traffic Police, Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), and the Ministry of Works and Transport, have launched “FIIKA SALAAMA EXTRA.’’

This operation aims to curb these dangerous behaviours, starting with the Express Highway and subsequently extending to other major highways.

However, this is a different scenario along the Gulu-Kampala Highway. The road measuring approximately 330 kilometers has dozens of spiked-barricaded roadblocks which are manned by the traffic, field force police, and regular police officers.

The roadblocks are meant to regulate and tame errant drivers, check their operating licenses, and verify the state of the machines on the road.

But, this is as easy as jumping on a motorcycle for work because drivers and turn men are only required to buy their way with only five thousand Uganda shillings (UGX 5,000) which is approximately 1.3 US dollars.

Regardless of the state of your vehicle, whether you have an expired driver`s license, or you have pending penalties. Five thousand shillings is enough to bribe your way out at every police checkpoint.

On Wednesday, I boarded the Roblyn Bus from Gulu City to Kamdini Town Council in Oyam district. The distance is about 63 kilometers, and I was charged 10,000 shillings for the fare.

Roblyn Bus has made the most news on the media following an accident it was involved in at Kamdini along the Gulu-Kampala Highway. The accident claimed the lives of 17 people and injured dozens of other passengers.

The bus had hit a static trailer due to poor vision from the driver.

Our journey commenced steadily from Lamogi Ber Bus Terminal in Gulu City but shortly after about five kilometers I noticed a strange relationship between the bus conductor and traffic officers at Layibi Roundabout.

The bus made a brief slow down, and the turn man who was seated near the door dropped something out of the window before the driver sped off.

Later, after about a five-kilometer drive again, another strange sight, this time I paid keen attention to the movement of the turn man. This time we approached another traffic checkpoint at Koro Abili in the Omoro district.

Before the traffic officers could say a thing, I heard the turn man commanding the driver saying ‘’Driver tambula, driver tambula’’. The driver sped off as the turn man pulled five thousand Uganda shillings note from his shirt pocket and dropped it through the window to the traffic officers.

After passing the checkpoint, we (passengers) braced for the full journey. The driver could be seen speaking on the phone while driving, picking leaves from a black kavera at the side of the steering wheel and chewing (vividly it was mairunji which is an outlawed drug in Uganda). Above all, he was beyond the speed limits as marked in the road signs.

The normal trend continued. Some of us expected that we might be stopped by traffic officers manning the different checkpoints, but surprisingly the turn man would pull five thousand shillings notes from his pocket and drop it at each checkpoint then the driver speeds off.

It was a scary and thoughtful journey until when I dropped off the board after reaching Kamdini Town Council.

It is surprising how drivers could easily bribe their way with just five thousand shillings, and the traffic police would forego the safety of over 60 passengers on board for a kilogram of sugar.

Five thousand shillings no longer buy a kilogram of onion, sugar, or even meat. Most people are living below one dollar a day.

To the drivers and traffic officers, this amount is enough to sacrifice the lives of over 60 people who are aboard a bus.