Drivers, taxi owners and Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) are engaged in a new legal battle over ownership of both old and new taxi parks.

The drivers applied for a lease offer from the Kampala District Land Board on Monday seeking for powers to manage both the old and new taxi parks.

The drivers and taxi owners argue that Kampala City Council Authority should give them the first priority because they are sitting tenants.

There is still a protracted battle over the management of the taxi business in Kampala. The lease for the taxi parks reportedly expired in 1995. The drivers and taxi owners applied for the land titles of the taxi parks through their associations: the Drivers and Conductors Central Association (DACCA) and the National Union of Taxi Operators (NUTO).

The DACCA chairperson, Mustapha Mayambala confirmed the development and said they are prepared to start renovating the taxi parks.

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Groups of taxi drivers and commuter taxi owners have petitioned court protesting against the high taxes the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) levies on them. The KCCA recently directed the drivers to pay a monthly operational tax fee of 120,000 shillings. The drivers filed at their application at the High Court in Kampala today saying that the new tax fee levied by KCCA is illegal.

The drivers led by Mustafa Mayambala, Henry Ssentongo, Rashid Mugenyi, and Yose Kaweesa petitioned the court through their lawyers of Matovu and Co advocates. The drivers sued KCCA together with its Executive Director Jenifer Musis Ssemakula.

Ms Musisi announced on March 8 this year that the drivers were to pay the new tax operation fee starting with the month of April. The drivers want the court to declare that the tax levy is illegal since it was not passed by an Act of Parliament. The petitioners further state that KCCA and Ms Musisi are breaching the law by usurping powers that are only exclusive to Parliament.

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It seems the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association (UTODA) is not leaving the Old and New Taxi Parks as it was earlier anticipated following President Museveni’s directive to Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).

It is said that the president on Tuesday sent a memo to the clerk to KCCA council and to the KCCA executive Director, Ms Jenifer Musisi indicating that the council should reorganize the transport system in Kampala between March and April and in May 2012 the powers to run the transport system should get back to UTODA.

The memo comes weeks after the chairperson of UTODA; Hajji Moses Katongole went to state house and pleaded with the president to save UTODA. According to sources in KCCA, Museveni advises that eliminating UTODA may cause more turmoil in the KCCA transport system.

Museveni reportedly advised that the tender to run buses and taxis should remain with KCCA but KCCA should hire an organisation such as UTODA to implement the contract.

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The police deployment at Old and NewTaxiParksin Kampalahas entered day three. This follows Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) took over the management of the taxi parks.

The High Court in Kampala on Monday dismissed a case filed by Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association (UTODA) against KCCA on grounds that the case was wrongly filed.

Following the ruling the police heavily deployed at both Old andNewTaxiParks fearing that the members of UTODA might violently demonstrate protesting against the ruling.

When our reporters visited the contested taxi parks, the policemen were guarding at the entrances of the taxi parks while KCCA officials were collecting taxes from the drivers.

When contacted, the Lord Mayor of Kampala Erias Lukwago said that the management of UTODA has now discovered that he has started to bite.

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The revelation follows the pressure by the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association (UTODA) asking KCCA to repair the parks, which it said are in a miserable state.

The Kampala Capital City Authority Executive Director, Jennifer Musisi says that the former KCC leadership sold a number of plots around the parks and the current leadership doesn’t know exactly the space remaining to operate the taxi park.

She says that KCCA shall start redeveloping the Taxis Parks after the cases in court are disposed of.

Musisi says that it is not good to spend billions of shillings on repairing the parks and all over sudden the ruling coming out that KCCA has developed the parts which do not belong to it.

She however says that KCCA will do some simple repair on the Taxi Parks to save the passengers and taxis of the mud during the rain seasons.

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