Govt suspends Jaguar buses for 10 days

Uganda’s Ministry for works and transport has suspended operations of Jaguar buses for at least ten days effective September 12.

The decision follows a road crash involving one of their buses, where eight lives were claimed along the Masaka Road on September 1, 2024. The Jaguar bus was traveling from Kampala to Kigali, Rwanda, when it veered out of its lane and collided head-on with a Fuso truck.

"Preliminary findings have shown that the driver of the Jaguar bus was trying to overtake in a wrong place, causing a head-on collision and killing 8 people. We therefore banned it for ten days and have directed police to impound any Jaguar bus seen on the road after 6am Friday," transport state minister Fred Byamukama said on Thursday.

“Within the 10 days of suspension, the administration of Jaguar Bus is required to present credentials of all the drivers for verification, all their motor vehicles for inspection and proof of refresher training for their drivers, as required by government,” he added.

Government will then review the submissions within ten days and decide whether to allow the buses on the road again or not, according to Byamukama.

Jaguar buses. PHOTO/HANDOUT

Since September 1, police have been hunting for a Jaguar bus driver blamed for the accident until he appeared with a wounded arm at the transport ministry on Wednesday to plead on behalf of the company with routes connecting Kampala to Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo. 

"This shows that people, especially these big companies, are taking accidents in a normal way because I even didn't see police coming to arrest him, yet they have been looking for him," Byamukama added.

Meanwhile, government has also issued a 7-day ultimatum to Gateway Bus Company to produce the driver of one of their buses. The said driver was captured in a viral social media video as he was overtaking a vehicle from a wrong point along the Kisoro Road.

"The Number plate the bus in the video cannot be seen, but at least there is enough evidence that it belongs to Gateway Bus Company. We have instructed police to establish the details on this bus. Should the company fail to produce the driver, we shall also act on them per the law," Byamukama said.