Government suspends Gaagaa bus licence for one month

The Ministry of Works and Transport through the Transport Licensing Board (TLB) has suspended the licence for Gaagaa Bus Company for one month over a number of issues.

Buses belonging to Gaagaa have in the past been involved in a number of fatal accidents, the latest being the one on May 25 at Coperlwor in Katulikire in Kiryandongo district in which over 20 people died .

According to Winstone Katushabe, the Transport Licensing Board Secretary, they sat and decided to suspend the company’s licence for a month until a number of issues have been rectified by the company.

“After finding issues with the company, the board decided that the licence be suspended for a month,” Katushabe said.

“The company drivers must go through a refresher course to ensure they are capable of steering a 67 passenger vehicle before they resume their duties.”

Katushabe revealed that the operation to ensure bus companies conform to the required standards will not only stop at Gaagaa but all bus companies will soon be forced to comply with the new measures.

He said that they are set to install gadgets that would monitor the buses wherever they go in a bid to reduce accidents on the road.

“We shall install the gadgets and tag them to GPS with a central server to which every bus or taxi is connected and can easily be monitored,”Katushabe said.

This is not the first time the company’s licence is suspended after a similar thing happened in 2012.