BODABODA BEWARE! Government to Replace All Fuel Motorcycles with Electric Ones

Uganda’s government is working on a plan to replace all fuel motorcycles with electric motorcycles, a decision that could have implications on the bodaboda industry of commercial motoryclists.

The government hopes that the phasing out of fuel motorcycles will improve the air quality in the country.

Months ago, Uganda’s National Environment Management Authority (Nema) launched the National Environment (Air Quality Standards) Regulations of 2024 to improve Uganda’s air quality.

The regulations require individual Ugandans to put in place an air quality monitoring program and management plan failure of which would lead to prosecution and a fine of up to Shs400m, or imprisonment for a period not exceeding four years, or both, upon conviction. The fines are higher for corporate entities.

According to the government owned Gov Info Hub, air pollution-related illnesses claim over 30,000 lives annually in Uganda.

In line with such air pollution prevention measures, the Minister of Science and Technology, Monica Musenero, has revealed that government will phase out fuel motorcycles and replace them with electric motorcycles.

“We are supporting a lot of private sector players who are transitioning our motorcycles from fuel to electric. I think Uganda is the fastest moving in terms of that, we have a goal of eliminating those fuel motorcycles from the streets,” Minister Musenero told Parliament’s Presidential Affairs Committee.

“Our air here is very bad, especially in the city. It is very bad, so we are working to eliminate that.”

Government’s efforts to streamline bodabodas in the country have largely failed. For example, a project given to a Russian company to install digital number plates was criticized for being expensive, the implementing foreign firm’s bankruptcy and a war of veiled statements between two ‘generals.’ (See Details Here, There and Over There).

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