Minister Katumba Wamala (third left) after meeting with StarTimes officials
The Ministry of Works and Transport has partnered with StarTimes Uganda to deploy 300,000 electric motorcycles nationwide.
The move is aimed at cutting emissions by over 40 per cent, reducing air-pollution-related deaths by 18 per cent, and boosting electricity consumption by up to 33 per cent. The five-year initiative is part of Uganda’s National E-Mobility Strategy, which targets full electrification of public transport by 2030.
The entrance of StarTimes into Uganda’s electric mobility was confirmed at the meeting between Gen. Katumba Wamala, the Minister of Works and Transport, and the leaders of StarTimes Uganda on Tuesday to unveil the deal.
The announcement by the ministry has drawn reactions from the public over its viability and whether the listed goals will be achieved, and how the local motorcycle industry and the boda boda business are likely to be impacted. It is not clear whether the said 300,000 cycles will be procured locally or imported.
Available records with the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation put the number of electric motorcycles produced in the country at about 5,000 over the last five years.
Uganda’s National E-Mobility Strategy targets a 100 per cent electrification of the public transport industry by 2030, meaning that by then, all motorcycles, cars, and buses involved in public transport would be electric.
To achieve this, the government has introduced tax incentives, including tax holidays for qualifying companies, as well as a reduction of taxes, including VAT to zero per cent and 10 per cent for the importation of parts.
James Obarowski, the Chief Executive Officer of Zembo, says the local industry, which is mainly assembling and conversion, has the capacity to produce a big part of the required units to electrify the boda boda industry. Other popular brands in Uganda are Spiro, GOGO, and the IUEA Electric Motorcycles.
“The market has been slow because it has not been easy for most riders to raise enough money to acquire a new electric cycle. However, with the coming in of asset financing companies to finance the acquisition of the cycles, the market should grow faster,” he says. It is estimated that Uganda has between 1 million and 1.5 million motorcycles.
The move by the ministry and StarTimes is drawing mixed reactions, with some arguing that the boda-boda industry in Uganda no longer needs promotion by the government, considering the number of cycles already on the road.
The industry has been blamed for abetting road accidents by either getting involved in road crashes or causing motor vehicle crashes due to bad driving. Police reports show that between 53 and 55 per cent of road accident injuries are caused by boda boda.
They also account for a big part of the injured patients at health facilities in the country.
However, while they are also responsible for causing significant emissions, the StarTimes initiative is expected to help reduce this with its electric cycles.
Ronald Amanyire, the Principal Road Safety Officer at the Ministry of Works and Transport, who insists he speaks on personal grounds, is among those opposed to the project, saying it will only abet carnage on the roads.
“In this particular matter, a technocrat involved the Minister to indirectly endorse Boda Boda (electric or petrol) even though he knows the effect of Boda crashes, and this should never have happened,” he says.
Others say that bringing into the country 300,000 motorcycle taxis will only increase confusion on the road and increase losses of life. Tumukunde Ivan, a civil engineer, calls for modern public transport systems in the country, dominated by buses.
“Neighbouring countries are busy working on bus lanes. Here in Uganda, Kampala specifically, we are already burdened by the number of boda boda, which have no respect for road use and safety,” he says.
Others are questioning the method used to determine how many pollution-related deaths would be avoided, since it is not clear how much pollution is contributed by motorcycles in Uganda. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), air pollution alone is responsible for an estimated 30,000 premature deaths in Uganda every year.
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