Police in Lyantonde District are holding 8 taxi drivers following a clash between taxi operators in Lyantonde Town Council
The suspects in police custody have been identified as Sunday Lubega, Innocent Magezi, Isaac Tumwine and Michael Kavuma among others.
It all started when the suspects and other that are still at large attached to Lyantonde Taxi Owner, Drivers and Conductors Cooperative Society attacked their counterparts of Kabula Bwerufu Lyantonde Taxi Owner’s, Drivers and Conductors Cooperative Society that are running a tender of controlling taxi parks in Lyantonde district accusing them of charging drivers illegal fees.
The taxi operators claim that President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni passed a directive stopping all parking charges saying that continuing to charge such fees is out of law.
Julius Njologoza the Chairperson of Lyantonde Taxi Drivers and Owners Cooperative Society says that they cannot just seat back and watch when the taxi operators are exploited and charged illegal fees.
However, the controllers of Lyantonde Taxi parks of Kabula Bwerufu Lyantonde Taxi Owner’s, Drivers and Conductors Cooperative Society insists that the charges that were outlawed are those that were being charges outside taxi parks.
They claim that taxis that use gazetted taxi parks in either loading or offloading passengers have to pays some money which they use to pay council licenses fees.
The Lyantonde District Police commander Tomas Oyo has confirmed the groups’ arrest saying that the suspects are likely to face charges of inciting violence when police investigation are completed.
