The Ministry of Works and Transport has suspended the Jaguar bus company from operating on any road in Uganda for a period of ten days following various accounts of reckless driving.
This follows an accident that happened along the Masaka-Kampala highway on September 1, 2024, in Kabale-Bugonzi village in Masaka city that killed 8 people on the spot and left 40 severely injured and in a critical condition after the driver of the Jaguar bus registration number UBP 964T was over speeding and overtaking various cars.
In an interview on September 12, 2024, the State Minister for Transport, Hon. Fred Byamukama, revealed that all Jaguar buses are suspended and they are not expected to transport people anywhere, inclusive of those heading to Rwanda, effective September 13, 2024, at 6:00 am.
Hon. Byamukama added that if the bus owners and drivers of the Jaguar Bus Company do not abide by the orders set by the government, then they will face arrest immediately.
’’Government is not happy with how the Jaguar bus drivers have been driving on the roads despite being warned by government about the drivers reckless driving, so now the Jaguar Bus Company has to wait for ten days until we finalize on what other penalties to give them,’’ Byamukama stated.
He also stated that the Ministry is going to use the ten days to look into the statistics of the bus drivers of Jaguar, mainly their driving skills and experience.
Byamukama also directed Gateway Bus Company to bring forward their driver, who was captured in a video that went viral online, showing him overtaking a corner in Kisoro and almost colliding with another bus within seven days.
’’We are now going to start punishing the owners of these bus companies together with their drivers whenever they cause accidents. This will make the owners more strict,’’ Byamukama stated.
This is not the first time the Jaguar Bus Company has been stopped to operate for a period of time.
In 2007, Rwanda banned Jaguar buses from traveling to Rwanda for a week after a Kampala-bound Jaguar bus killed a Rwandan woman along the Mbarara-Kabale highway, and due to this accident, Rwandan police, reportedly on the orders of the deceased’s relative, a senior Rwandese cabinet official, impounded five Jaguar buses and ordered the other Jaguar buses not to cross Katuna border point.
