Mbarara City to hold boda boda elections

Mbarara, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Mbarara City authorities have started plans to organize the election for Mbarara City Boda Boda riders.

The riders have been without leadership for the past four years, after the term of office expired in 2020. Although elections were scheduled to take place, they were disrupted by the outbreak of Covid-19.

Furthermore, chaos among the riders resulted in the suspension of the elections that had been planned in 2021 and 2022.

Lilian Kobusingye, the Deputy Town Clerk of Mbarara, says that the security committee has approved the riders’ request to organize elections.

Lilian says they are currently working on a roadmap to ensure that the elections are conducted peacefully.

Allan Karakure Buhanda, the City Commercial Officer, says the City leadership has set April 30th as the deadline to complete the election process.

He says that the format for electing leaders has changed noting that the elections will be conducted at the stage level, ward level, division and later city level.

According to Karakure, the City Town Clerk has been appointed as the Chairperson of the elections and will the Commercial officers will assist as secretaries, supported by city development officers and town agents.

In December 2022, the security committee directed the Mbarara City town clerk to suspend the elections for the top leadership of Mbarara City Boda Boda riders.

This was due to allegations of irregularities made by a section of Boda Boda riders against the Independent Electoral Body, which was then led by Chairperson Richard Kiggundu.

However, a group of riders ran to the High Court challenging the suspension of their leadership elections, and seeking a judicial review contesting the suspension.

Court presided over by Justice Joyce Kavuma, found that the dispute stemmed from the association’s constitution, governed by private law principles, rather than public law, and consequently, the application was dismissed with costs.

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