Enough with the boda boda pilots wrong perception

Yes, Nakato is still away and I want to clean up our bad public image. Many of you believe that we (boda boda men) all ride under the influence of banned substances and are crooks who cannot be trusted.

This is especially so for those who have visited Uganda’s Mulago Hospital and seen the number of boda boda accident victims who are admitted there.

First, I doubt you can safely ride under the influence in this day and age when everyone is an aspiring actor in an action movie.

And this reminds me of an experience. I once carried a female passenger and we were maneuvering through traffic, riding downhill towards the intersection after Makerere University on our way to one of the Kampala beerbelts, Wandegya.

Suddenly, out of nowhere a truck appeared. My female customer screamed and jumped off the motorbike and landed in the path of oncoming traffic.

Had I been drunk, I would not have managed to keep my head and swerved to avoid the truck, while balancing from the jolt due to the sudden loss of extra passenger weight.

Vanishing customers

I could not stop as police would have arrested me for careless driving, and a lynch mob would surely have beaten me and stolen my boda boda. I was not to blame and she should have trusted that I also value my life.

You have to be alert in a business that entails carrying strangers from place to place, and a good knowledge of the city and its environs is paramount for success.

A guy hops on my bike and we negotiate the fee, Sh100, to take him home. He asks me to give the person who has escorted him Sh400 and promises to pay this together with the fare.

As we approached his purported home, he suddenly jumps off the bike and attempts to vanish into the surrounding bushes.

Massive aches

Being a big fun of action movies and having mastered a few tricks, I immediately gave chase on my bike as I shouted at the top of my voice, in the process causing a commotion.

Upon apprehending him, I gave him a number of resounding slaps and emptied his pockets. He, of course, reported it as a robbery but I call it karma.

In regard to the perception that most of us drink a lot, smoke bhang, shisha and many other banned stuff, I have the following to say. Drinking and smoking are not my thing. When the second bottle of beer reaches my legs, the blood solidifies and they become like cement blocks.

It is very hard to walk in this state. As for smoking, I do not like the taste of cigarettes and shall never try this thing called shisha. I had heard that it is very sweet, and smells nice.

The last time I tried that thing called shisha, my last memory was that the world became quieter and more colorful.

Repeatedly slapped

I woke up fully clothed in my bed, with my shoes on, and suffering from massive aches and pains in every part. I also felt like my face had been repeatedly slapped.

When it happened to me, my door was wide open, and the neighbors probably thought I was just enjoying fresh air as it was 10am. I was glad that I had not been robbed and I was too embarrassed to ask ‘what happened’.

Who, in their right mind, would want to get hooked on a substance that makes them get into bed with their dirty shoes? And only wake up to realize they didn’t close their door at night?

Folks, give us boda boda pilots a break!