Juba residents suffer after Boda-Boda ban
Regular users of boda-bodas complained they can no longer travel with ease across the South Sudanese capital. Since the decision to prohibit foreigners from driving the popular commercial form of local transport, locals told The Niles that boda-bodas are hard to find.
Angelina Marta, a civil servant from Central Equatoria, said there are few South Sudanese boda-boda operators in town and many drive recklessly and cause accidents. I am no longer on time in my office, because I am always delayed on the road waiting for a boda-boda,” she said.
I am always delayed on the road waiting for a boda-boda.”
She said that as soon as she had enough money she would get her own motorbike and learn to drive it, adding it would be better than risking my life with unprofessional boda-boda riders”.
Although the ban on the popular transport method was seen as a way to improve traffic safety, Angelina told how, shortly after the clampdown in July, her eight-year-old daughter was knocked down by a South Sudanese boda-boda. The girl is still recovering from her injuries.
Jackson Modi, a business man in Konyo-Konyo, also faces a daily struggle to secure transport. Until now he traveled with an Ugandan boda-boda rider. Following the ban, during which some foreign-owned motorbikes were impounded or stolen, his driver fled the country and returned to Uganda. The South Sudanese drivers are mostly inexperienced, Modi said.
He added that he was involved in an accident due to a drunk South Sudanese boda-boda operator, who carried him from Rock City to Munuki. I am still with my injury at home, leaving my business hanging. I cannot walk, I really don’t trust these South Sudanese boda-boda operators in town, better still if the town should be without boda-boda riders,” Jackson told The Niles.
Pastor Godfrey Mutazibwa, September 22.
Godfrey Mutazibwa, pastor of one of the foreign owned Pentecostal churches Big God International in Juba, said the law against foreign boda-boda operators weighed on his church since most people attending service were Ugandan drivers. Following the ban, his church typically collects three-quarters less money every week.
Pastor Godfrey added that other congregation members fear traveling with South Sudanese boda-boda operators, meaning they no longer attend his services.
Denis Kenyi, a South Sudanese boda-boda driver, said the shortage of drivers is acute. We are so few compared to the population in Juba who need boda-bodas. Demand is so high,” he told The Niles.
Kenyi added that foreigners living in Juba often face a language barrier when trying to travel. Most foreigners speak English while many South Sudanese drivers only speak Juba Arabic.
Now, we are making more money, than what we used to make when foreign boda-boda operators were still in the country,” Kenyi said.
Now, we are making more money.”
South Sudanese Inspector General of Police Pieng Deng Kuol said that his ministry did not target Ugandans living in the country, as was widely reported in Uganda, sparking threats of retaliation.
He argued that the ban on foreign riders created an opportunity for South Sudanese young people to work -- helping stamp out widespread unemployment.
