The use of motorcycles to transport building materials, including iron bars, has become quite commonplace. Whereas the practice may come across as a pocket-friendly means of moving iron bars over a short distance, those who resort to transporting those materials are oblivious to the dangers. Transportation of such materials on motorcycles poses significant risks of accidents and injuries that can be fatal.
Motorcycles were never designed to carry long loads. It makes it extremely difficult for the rider to control as it compromises the balancing, steering and braking. This increases the risk of accidents. As has often been seen on our roads, long loads such as iron bars often protrude from the front and rear ends of the motorcycle.
Those that protrude from the rear often touch the tarmac, which causes damage to the infrastructure over time. This should be a major cause for worry for a country that required, as of July last year, Shs3.153 trillion to maintain its road network. This, however, points to an even bigger problem. It suggests that there are serious shortfalls in the country’s policies on the management of public assets such as roads and bridges. The missing link is the citizens. They are not aware of their roles and functions in the protection of national and community assets, which explains why infrastructure is impinged on as they look on. This calls for an aggressive engagement of the communities.
The citizenry should be involved in the planning, development and maintenance of public projects as it not only accords them an opportunity to identify and address any social risks, but also fosters a sense of shared responsibility when it comes to the protection of public assets. This calls for intentionality. It calls for our political leaders to rise above their personal interests and political aspirations and focus on the interests of the communities and the country. It calls for an end to populism and populist tendencies that have often impeded the implementation of bylaws and policies that would have helped in the protection of public assets and returned the country to a semblance of social order.
It calls for mass sensitisation programmes on the citizenry’s roles and functions in the protection and maintenance of public assets. Government must, however, take the lead in all this by taking full charge of funding and implementing an encompassing civic awareness programme that goes beyond lectures on history and politics to responsibilities and what should be expected of a good and patriotic citizen.