Lord mayor Erias Lukwago wants police to apologise for the botched meeting with the bod-boda operators.
Lukwago was Wednesday morning scheduled to meet legislators from Kampala, division mayors and boda-boda operators at Kampala Capital City Authority council hall chambers.
But the Mayor says he was surprised to be told that the meeting could not go on and anti riot police and plain clothed security personnel codorned off the city hall and searched boda-boda operators.
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Lukwago says by 11:00 none of the legislators had turned up and less than 20 bodaboda cyclists managed to push their way in. Division mayors and councilors were blocked at the entrance.
Lukwago says the Kampala Capital City Act 2010 mandates him to engage in consultative meetings at the city council hall and to discuss with stakeholders on the planning of the city. He argued that usage of the City Hall does not require him to notify police.
Ibin Senkumbi, the Kampala metropolitan police spokesman, said the meeting was blocked because the city hall council chambers could not handle the big number of people who had been mobilized.
He says Lukwago ignored the advice and went ahead with his meeting plans.
Senkumbi insists Lukwago can still have the meeting held in any other place other than city hall.
Yasin Ssemujju, the vice chairperson Kampala Central Boda-Boda operators told Uganda Radio Network that the cyclists had planned to tell the mayor the challenges of their work in the city.
He says leadership wrangles in the industry had made the business unmanageable with many new stages emerging on a daily basis. He says in 2002 Kampala City Council had marked 64 stages in the city centre with each stage having between 10 to 15 cyclists.
He says the stages went on increasing up to 160 in the subsequent years, and the industry has been infiltrated by several other interest groups.
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