The arrest of a suspect in the killing of rugby player Sydney Gongodyo has renewed attention on the long-running relationship between Uganda’s security agencies and sections of the boda boda community.
Gongodyo died after a violent mob attack in Bukoto, a Kampala suburb, following allegations of a mugging. Much of the public anger after his death has focused on boda boda riders, who reportedly formed a large part of the mob.
Few public transport groups in Uganda attract as much praise and criticism as boda boda riders. The motorcycles help commuters move through city traffic, especially during peak-hour gridlock. Yet the sector has also faced repeated criticism over reckless conduct, lawlessness and mob justice.
Gongodyo’s family condemns brutal attack
At Gongodyo’s burial on Tuesday, his father, Mr James Gyabi, described the injuries inflicted on his son in painful detail.
“…his face, as you see, it was distorted by these savages. But as you can see in the pictures, he was a very handsome young man, [and a] very obedient son,” Mr Gyabi said.
A postmortem examination reportedly documented 17 skull fractures. It also found loss of vision linked to the severity of the attack.
Mr Gyabi said the injuries showed that “my son died in excruciating pain.”
His remarks echoed the wider condemnation that followed Gongodyo’s death. Many Ugandans have criticised the mob for taking the law into its own hands.
Suspect captured after days on the run
Police have so far arrested more than 10 suspects in connection with the attack.
One of the most notable arrests involved Mr Obed Mugwiisa. He had allegedly appeared in citizen-recorded videos and images beating Gongodyo with a log.
Mr Mugwiisa was captured barely minutes after Gongodyo had been laid to rest. He had reportedly been on the run for nearly five days.
His arrest also exposed the practical role some boda boda riders play in police operations. In footage from the arrest, boda boda riders surrounded the suspect as they appeared to assist security personnel.
“I was with [the Uganda Police Force spokesperson Kituuma] Rusoke at Mulago today, and assurances were made that [the suspect] would be apprehended,” a male voice said during the arrest.
Police later issued a statement confirming Mr Mugwiisa’s arrest. However, the statement did not explain the nature of the operation that led to his capture.
Old questions over boda boda security networks
The episode has revived scrutiny of the relationship between boda boda riders and Uganda’s security agencies.
That relationship became widely visible during the rise of Abdallah Kitatta and Boda Boda 2010. The group, made up of motorcycle taxi operators, gained notoriety before Kitatta’s dramatic fall in January 2018.
Kitatta later served jail time after being convicted of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
Before his conviction, he described himself as “the link between the boda boda fraternity and the government.”
His influence unsettled many people who accused Boda Boda 2010 of violence and intimidation. Kitatta once warned critics of the group in harsh terms.
“We cannot be intimidated. Their time is up. We are going to hunt them down like cockroaches,” he said.
From border transport to city mainstay
The boda boda business began modestly as a cross-border transport service between Uganda and Kenya.
Cyclists ferried goods and people across the border, helping traders avoid tedious paperwork in the so-called no man’s land. Their call to customers, “border-border,” evolved into “boda boda” through the common eastern Uganda pronunciation.
The bicycle-based service spread through eastern towns such as Mbale and Jinja. It later became a familiar part of Kampala’s transport system.
Over time, boda bodas became a symbol of mobility and economic opportunity for many low-income urban workers.
BMK and the motorcycle shift
The sector changed significantly when the late businessman Bulaimu Muwanga Kibirige, also known as BMK, helped push the shift from bicycles to motorcycles.
John Howe, in a 2003 peer-reviewed article, linked the introduction of motorcycle-based services to BMK Uganda Ltd.
“The introduction of motorcycle-based services resulted from the initiative of a local firm, BMK (Uganda) Ltd. A trade visit to Cyprus in 1992 exposed the owner to the use of motorcycles by local farmers. This example and the knowledge that Japan disposed of large numbers of second-hand and reconditioned motorcycles led to their introduction into Uganda in the same year,” Howe wrote.
The evolution transformed boda bodas into one of Uganda’s most visible transport sectors. But Gongodyo’s killing has again raised difficult questions about vigilantism, public safety and the informal security role some riders continue to play.
