Kampala, (UG):- The Ministry of Works and Transport has suspended operations of Jaguar buses for at least ten days starting today, September 12 following a recent road crash which claimed eight lives along Masaka Road early this month.
The fatal road crash happened on September 1st when the Jaguar bus that was travelling from Kampala to Kigali, Rwanda veered out of its lane and collided head-on with a Fuso truck.
The State Minister for Works, Hon Fred Byamukama while addressing the media on Thursday said preliminary findings carried out by relevant authorities discovered that “the cause of the fatal crash was the result of the bus driver trying to overtake in the wrong place, causing a head-on collision and killing 8 people.”
“We, therefore, banned it for ten days and have directed police to impound any Jaguar bus seen on the road after 6 am Friday,” Hon Byamukama emphasized as he announced the suspension on Thursday afternoon.
“Within the 10 days of suspension, the administration of Jaguar Bus is required to present credentials of all the drivers for verification, all their motor vehicles for inspection and proof of refresher training for their drivers, as required by the government,” he added.
“The government will then review the submissions within ten days and decide whether to allow the buses on the road again or not.”
The minister also revealed that the runaway driver who disappeared at the time of the accident on September 1, finally appeared with a wounded arm at the transport ministry on Wednesday to plead on behalf of the company with routes connecting Kampala to Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo.
“This shows that people, especially these big companies, are taking accidents in a normal way because I even didn’t see police coming to arrest him, yet they have been looking for him,” Byamukama added.
In a related development, Minister Byamukama said the government has also issued a 7-day ultimatum to Gateway Bus Company to produce the driver of one of their buses who was captured in a viral social media video as he was overtaking a vehicle from a wrong point along the Kisoro Road.
“The Number plate of the bus in the video cannot be seen, but at least there is enough evidence that it belongs to Gateway Bus Company. We have instructed the police to establish the details of this bus. Should the company fail to produce the driver, we shall also act on them per the law,” Byamukama noted.
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