KAMPALA: The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, has directed the police and the works ministry to remove all vehicles parked by roadsides to avert accidents.
The directive comes days after businessman Apollo Nyegamehe, also known as Aponye, died in an accident after his vehicle rammed into a stationary trailer.
“If we implemented the Road Act, 2019 to the letter then we would not be having all these problems. I want to urge the Minister to implement the law, especially Section 58, to tow those vehicles that break down on the road,” Among told Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.
“We also need to change the caliber of the people who are given permits,” she added.
Jonathan Odur (Erute South) said it was a criminal offence to leave a vehicle on the roadside beyond 30 minutes for urban roads and one hour for rural roads.
He blamed the government for failing to implement the Act as stipulated in the Road Act, 2019.
Linos Ngompek (Kibanda North) blamed the highway accidents on poor road signage. He implored the works ministry to do road re-marking to increase visibility.
Nyegamehe who was also the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party Chairman for Rukiga District died on Thursday in a road crash in Ntungamo district. The accident occurred at 9:00pm at Itojo.
Nyegamehe was travelling in a Toyota Land Cruiser V8R registration number UBF 300Z when the car rammed into a trailer that was parked on the side of the road.
However, Suzan Amero (Amuria District) said: “The issue of accidents in Uganda isn’t about roads, but we are just not disciplined at all.”
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