Taxi operators have threatened to go on strike on Monday next week.
The drivers say the strike is in protest of alleged mistreatment by UTODA and its agents.
Addressing a news conference early today, the chairman of the Taxi Drivers and Conductors’ Association Mustafa Mayambala said they have decided to park their taxis to express their dissatisfaction with the unfair treatment by the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers’ Association.
They accuse UTODA of forceful and illegal collection of welfare fees, illegal arrests and impounding of vehicles whose owners fail to pay the said fees.
Mayambala says such drivers are often beaten up or denied access to stages and cannot operate freely.
This comes after some of the drivers gave heed to calls by the Lord Mayor not to continue paying the welfare fees until UTODA’s contract is renewed.
At the news conference Mayambala also paraded some of the taxi drivers alleged to have been beaten up by UTODA enforcement officers for failure to pay the fees.
He says the affected drivers are from the stages of Gabba, Kasubi and Makindye.
The welfare fees have been source of controversy with the ministry of local government saying they are illegal but the KCCA is yet to pronounce itself on the matter.
Meanwhile, UTODA has often denied breaking any law, insisting that those making such allegations are impostors and not part of the drivers’ association.
The drivers have now vowed not to get back to wheels until government and KCCA intervene.
Story By Hadijah Mwanje
