Bus Drivers Halt Strike for Talks on Badges & Welfare

Bus drivers have halted the strike that was supposed to start on Monday, October 12, after meeting with the police, the Ministry of Works and Transport, and owners of bus companies, who asked for time for talks.

The bus drivers had planned a nationwide sit-down strike starting Monday in protest over the issuance of badges, traffic penalties, and welfare issues.

Ms Khadijah Nakakande, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Works and Transport (MoWT), said they met the drivers, who presented several concerns about the badges, welfare, and annual payments, but the government officials couldn’t resolve them instantly because they involved several agencies.

“They presented the badge issues and annual payments. It is not something you can resolve or agree on in one day because it involves many agencies. It is something we are going to look into with the help of other concerned bodies, and they will get back to them,” Ms Nakakande said yesterday.

The chairman of Uganda Bus Drivers Association (UBDA), Mr Yunus Kiggundu, confirmed the halting of the strike to give talks a chance.

“We met officials from the police, Ministry of Works and Transport, and bus owners on Saturday. They met us to share our grievances with them. They said they had taken note of them and they would deliver them to their superiors and share the feedback later. They asked us to halt the planned strike as they consult on the issues,” Mr Kiggundu said yesterday.

Last week, the bus drivers agreed to strike after the MoWT directed them to renew their badges, which also requires them to take a one-week refresher driving course.

The refresher course and renewal of driving badges followed an increase in road crashes involving buses and fatalities among their passengers.

Investigations by the traffic police and MoWT found that many drivers didn’t meet the requirements to drive buses, while others had been involved in several road indiscipline incidents, but they were still driving passenger vans.

Last year, 437 buses were involved in road crashes, of which 105 were fatal, according to the police report of 2025.

To curb indiscipline among bus drivers, the MoWT directed that bus drivers undergo refresher courses and be issued new driving badges.

Mr Kiggundu said the drivers take a long time to complete a refresher course, and when they are done, the MoWT officials delay in issuing them the badges.

“There was also an issue of payments the drivers were paying during the processing of the badges. The exact payments varied from one bus driver to another. We want that clarified,” he said.

Some bus drivers alleged that they were paying over Shs700,000 to process a bus driving badge. The drivers said there is a delay in the issuance of badges for more than a month, which keeps them unemployed.

In 2013, the MoWT issued a new statutory instrument that required all drivers of public service vehicles and those carrying goods to undergo tests to ascertain their competence and criminal record before acquiring badges.

Driving a bus without a badge attracts a fine as high as Shs200,000.

The bus drivers applying for badges must attach an appointment letter from the bus company they work for. The police have to issue them a document to show that they meet all the requirements and have no bad driving record.

Bus drivers said many of their members are stuck because most of the bus companies don’t want to issue appointment letters to their drivers to avoid additional costs on them, like taxes and national social security funds.

The Vice Chairman of United Bus Owners Association, Mr Brian Kwezira, said the new measures, like renewal of driving badges, have also affected their businesses.

“When there is a delay in the issuance of badges to bus drivers, it also affects transport plans and schedules. We rely on those drivers to drive our buses,” Mr Kwezira said.

Mr Kwezira said that in the meeting with the drivers and government officials, they agreed to meet on Thursday to resolve the sticky issues.
Source: Daily Monitor