State minister for transport Stephen Chebrot wants Pioneer Easy Bus company to explain where its reported 500 drivers were trained from.
Appearing before the Public Service and Local Government Accounts Committee on Thursday, Chebrot said Uganda does not have a bus driving school and therefore Pioneer Bus could not have trained all the 500 drivers in the country.
“I don’t believe that all the 500 drivers could have been trained from here because there is no training school for bus drivers. How did all these acquire the license? I think I will not allow them to operate without first establishing the school” he said.
He noted that the biggest cause of accidents on the roads is by people “driving taxis and the next thing, they are driving buses.”
In 2010, Pioneer Easy Bus Ltd won a concession from Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to provide passenger bus services within Kampala.
According to the executive director Fred Ssenoga, the company has been offering bus transport services to the public since 2007, running a fleet of 16 buses on a pilot basis.
Over 500 drivers have so far been trained and 100 buses imported in preparation for the kick-off. He said more 422 are yet to arrive in the country. A total of 1,000 drivers are expected to be employed.
Pioneer managing director, David Baingana however said he was surprised that the minister does not know what exactly goes on under his docket.
According to the company, the drivers were trained by International Driving Agency, a company located in Rubaga.”It’s a big shame that the minister does know that there are bus driving schools in Uganda. Pioneer buses do not train but hires trainers. It is very, very unfortunate that the minister is behaving like that. Our drivers were trained and issued with permits,” Baingana clarified.
MPs put Chebrot to task to explain how the company started without the ministry’s involvement. The legislators also wanted to know the ministry’s plan for other transport players such as the commuter taxis.
“Imagine 500 buses on Kampala streets together with hundred taxis yet you want to decongest the city, what plans do you have for the taxis?” Betty Namboze (Mukono municipality) had asked.
Magyezi warned that the problem of congestion is likely to continue as long as the two public transport means are allowed to operate alongside each other.
Other members argued that letting them operate alongside buses is a “trick by the company” to slowly phase them [taxis] out.
Chebrot said he had never heard of Pioneer buses until the matter was raised in the press.
By Mary Karugaba, The New Vision
