Kampala, Uganda: Road safety advocates have renewed calls for the establishment of special traffic courts to prosecute and severely punish reckless drivers responsible for the growing number of fatal road crashes in Uganda.
The demand follows the Kampala–Gulu Highway tragedy that claimed 46 lives early Wednesday morning, in what has been described as one of the deadliest accidents in recent years.
Speaking to DailyExpress in an exclusive interview, Mr Percy Mulamba Munwankyo, a Road Safety Advocate (RSA) with Consult Afrika Usalaama, said Uganda’s road carnage has reached crisis levels and can no longer be treated as mere accidents.
“This should be handled as murder — no excuses for bail or bond,” Munwankyo said. “It is disgusting and extremely painful to see lives being lost on the roads while culprits just walk away. We need special traffic courts dedicated to road safety cases to ensure justice and deterrence.”
‘Move Beyond Awareness to Enforcement’
Munwankyo, whose organisation Consult Afrika Usalaama promotes road safety awareness and post-crash response, called on the government to move beyond public sensitization campaigns and focus on strict enforcement, investigation, and accountability.
“We keep saying road safety is a shared responsibility, but when that responsibility is too broadly shared, accountability gets lost,” he noted. “It’s time to move beyond awareness to real enforcement. Lives depend on it.”
He said Uganda’s current approach is largely reactive — emphasizing condolences and suspension of transport companies after crashes rather than preventive enforcement and justice.
Rising Road Deaths Raise Alarm
Uganda continues to register some of the highest road fatality rates in East Africa. The 63 deaths in the Kitaleba crash came just a day after another tragedy in Kampala where Ms. Angella Namirembe, a 27-year-old law student at Uganda Christian University (UCU) and Youth Coordinator for the National Unity Platform (NUP) in Buganda, died in a motorcycle accident in Mengo.
Namirembe, a relative of Mukono Municipality MP Hon. Betty Nambooze, was a respected youth activist for human rights and governance causes. Her death, alongside the highway carnage, has reignited debate over Uganda’s failure to address reckless driving and lax enforcement of traffic laws.
“Every life lost on the road is a life wasted because of impunity and negligence,” Munwankyo said. “Road safety should now be treated as a justice issue, not just a policy conversation.”
Government Efforts Under Scrutiny
In May this year, the government suspended YY Coaches for 15 days following two serious crashes that left four people dead and more than 30 hospitalized. But critics argue that such temporary sanctions do little to address the root causes of road chaos, including poor driver training, vehicle inspection loopholes, and corruption within the transport enforcement chain.
Activists are now urging the Judiciary and Parliament to expedite the creation of dedicated traffic courts across the country to ensure fast-tracked hearings and tougher penalties for offenders. “Without strong legal consequences, reckless driving will remain Uganda’s silent killer,” Munwankyo warned.
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