The number of unregistered motorcycles on the streets of Arua is rising, despite a government initiative to halve the cost of registration.
The subsidized period, which ran for two years, allowed motorcycle owners to register their vehicles with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) at half the price of Shs 800,000, but the window closed on July 1 this year.
Swadiq Amaku, Chairman of Arua City Boda-Boda Association, revealed that the reason many motorcycle owners are shunning the new number plate registration is that the process is too expensive and time-consuming.
“That digital number plate alone, I tried it as the chairman, it took me almost three months to get it. I bought my motorcycle in October and I got the number plate in December. Then the price for it is too much,” he said.
Amaku noted that according to their registry, there are over 2,000 motorcycles in Arua which are operating without number plates because their owners cannot afford the cost of registration.
“If these ordinary boda-boda riders cannot afford the cost of registration as a member of the association, how do you expect them to pay all that amount for the digital number plate, whose motorcycle will not last for more than 3 years,” he questioned.
Uganda introduced the new digital number plates as part of the national intelligent transport monitoring system. The high-security, tamper-proof plates are being rolled out in phases across the country at a cost of Shs714,300.
Mr Abbey Mawerere, URA’s regional manager for field operations, acknowledged that locals did not properly utilize the promotion of subsidized cost for number plates and that it also came at a time when the country was transitioning to digital plates.
“We understood that this affected our people, we are still in engagement with the ministry of works and transport to improve their services. They are too slow and then discuss if they can reduce the price of motorcycle number plates,” he said.
Mawerere said they saw it as unfair to the locals to pay all that money for the acquisition of a digital number plate.
The riders, who also operate across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo, called for government intervention, saying they are being charged $100 by Congolese authorities when they drop passengers with numbered motorcycles, forcing them to remove the plates.