Police has decried complacency in following Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures noticed among taxi, boda boda and all other public transport operators and warned them against carrying excess passengers as prohibited by the standing guidelines.
Last year, Government, through the Ministry of Health issued SOPs and other guidelines aimed at containing the spread of covid-19, among which is public means of transport carrying half the usual passenger capacity to enable social distancing.
Speaking to the press at Uganda Media Centre on Monday February 15, Kampala Metropolitan Police Spokesperson Patrick Onyango said that drivers who are caught flaunting the SOPs will be dealt as the law provides.
“In case any driver doesn’t follow these rules, he or she will be charged and arrested for seven years,’’ Onyango said.
Onyango added that the warning goes for private car owners who are using their cars to carry more than four passengers.
“People who use ‘Wish cars’ to carry passengers on the Kampala-Masaka road, instead of carrying four passengers, they carry seven people in a car. You stand warned and whoever will be caught shall be charged accordingly,’’ Onyango said.
He noted that any passenger who willingly boards a car which is already past the recommended capacity will also be charged.
“It is your choice to board any car, however, if you accept to be the ninth person in a taxi, police will arrest you. Even on a boda boda, the second person will be arrested,” he said.
Onyango, on the other hand, commended officials from the Taxi Drivers Association who have employed efforts in the fight against Covid-19.
“We are pleased that right now we are being joined by taxi operatives to fight these crimes,” he noted.
