[Boda bodas (motorcycles) in the Ugandan capital Kampala]
[Group of men sat on their motorcycles]
[Zubairi Idi Nyakuni]
Zubairi Idi Nyakuni (interview): “We just do this because we have nothing to do, we have nothing to do. Even all of us here, other people even, they have their degrees, they have their masters, but they are just here they have nothing to do, my brother.”
[Boda boda riders carrying large loads and passengers]
[Tugende – a company that finances Boda Boda riders]
[Boda boda motorcycles parked at Tugende]
[Sign showing motorcycle]
[Charles Mwanguhya in his office]
Charles Mwanguhya (interview): “We must appreciate where the Boda Boda comes from, how this whole phenomenon grew. You have a population, we just went through a national population housing census… up to 72% are young people below the age of 35, so you have quite a large number of people that are young, who can’t find jobs to do – whether in the public sector or the private sector and they do not have significant alternative income to get into other enterprises. So the motorcycle becomes an easy thing. But number two, especially in Uganda’s urban areas where you don’t have organised public transport, you don’t have buses, you don’t have trains, you don’t have trams, the motorcycle becomes the most convenient way to move around.”
[Boda boda riding around the city]
[Boda bodas]
[Policeman confiscating a motorcycle from a rider]
[Traffic officer on the road]
[Traffic officer resting on a boda boda Motorcycle]
[Road filled with boda bodas]
Innocent Aweta (interview): “The thing which causes accidents is the police, when you reach the traffic light someone just comes and grab your keys so that’s why boda boda, we just pass, we just break that rule. Sometimes others they use one way so there you can be safe, also there you are safe so you can keep your money, small money which you have got but if they arrest you, that money which you have worked, like 20 or 30, they take it. So that’s why people start to escape away from police and traffic lights and sometimes the road, also the road is not good.”
[Boda bodas on Kampala streets]
[Winstone Katushabe]
Winstone Katushabe (interview): “We need to help them train, understand how they are using the road, be patient with other road users, make sure they are safe because we still want them, I have told you most of these guys range between 19 and 45, this is the most productive age of any country.”
[Boda bodas on Kampala streets]
[Traffic officers]
Charles Mwanguhya (interview): “Our problem is not the boda boda, the problem is regulation and regulation that applies to everyone equally. Where you have a certain category of people trying to ride above the law, they drive on the wrong side of the road, they respect no traffic rules, they run through traffic lights, you are going to have a problem. I will go back to Tugende for example, from earlier on Tugende started the culture among riders; one you must have your helmet on at all times, your crash helmet. You have your reflector jackets which government has been trying to emphasize now and enforce, if you drive through a traffic light and we caught you, back then, you would be fined for that – so we had very disciplined riders on the roads.”
[Kampala Road]
[Kampala]
This script was provided by The Associated Press.