Uganda’s taxi crackdown leaves 408 vehicles awaiting clearance

Only 69 of the 477 commuter taxis impounded in Uganda’s vehicle-safety crackdown have been repaired and passed automated inspections. The other 408 remain in garages, according to a Ministry of Works and Transport statement reported by Daily Monitor Uganda (direct). For those vehicles, the route back to service runs through both repairs and a government inspection—not simply a visit to a mechanic.

The ministry gave the figures in a statement on Friday. It said the 408 taxis had been impounded from Kampala City in August because of dangerous mechanical conditions and had failed inspections. Their continued stay in repair garages leaves most of the vehicles caught in the operation still awaiting the clearance needed to return to the road. The statement did not give a timetable for completing those repairs.

Repairs alone do not clear a taxi for service

Authorities have removed the registration plates from the impounded vehicles and are holding them until the taxis pass inspection and receive a certificate of fitness. That certificate is the official approval allowing a vehicle to operate on the road again. The process makes a successful inspection, rather than the completion of garage work alone, the condition for releasing a vehicle back into service.

The 69 taxis that have cleared that hurdle were checked at the government’s Mandatory Vehicle Inspection facilities after being repaired, the ministry said. These facilities use automated inspections to assess vehicles. The reported figures distinguish between taxis that have successfully completed the repair-and-inspection process and the much larger group that remains under repair; they do not establish how many of the cleared vehicles have already resumed carrying passengers.

A 100-day operation focused on unsafe vehicles

The Ministry of Works and Transport and the traffic police launched Operation Ganyegenya on August 24 in the Kampala Metropolitan Area. The joint enforcement campaign runs for 100 days and targets vehicles described as being in dangerous mechanical conditions, abbreviated as DMCs. Authorities have impounded 477 taxis since the operation began and put them through inspection, according to the ministry’s account.

The campaign focuses on public service vehicles—vehicles used to carry passengers—with commuter taxis a particular target. Its stated coverage includes the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area and major highways. The figures disclosed on Friday concern the impounded taxis, rather than a broader count of all passenger vehicles operating in those areas.

The latest update puts the repair stage at the centre of the operation’s next phase for these taxis. Although 69 vehicles have met the inspection requirement after garage work, 408 still need to complete the process. The ministry’s account provides no details on the individual faults, repair costs or expected completion dates for that remaining group.

The next milestone to watch is how many of those 408 taxis pass automated inspections and secure their certificates of fitness. Until they meet those conditions, their registration plates remain with the authorities and their return to the road remains pending.