Should Deadly Bakulu Company Continue Taking More Lives of Passengers?
By Mapuor Malual Manguen, Juba
Until this week, accidents that had involved Bakulu Transport Company are beyond remorse. Since 2011 when Bakulu coaches hit market in South Sudan, the company has made more money in the same speed it took lives of many passengers when its drivers made frequent accidents along Juba-Nimule-Kampala high. The most recent fatal incidence killed over thirty passengers. It is making more deaths than money in the country. In other words, Bakulu is becoming another source of insecurity in South Sudan.
On July this year, over 16 people were critically injured in a fatal accident involving a coach belonging to Bakulu Bus Company at Pageri Trading center; about 40 kilometers from the Nimule border post. This Monday, 31 passengers died in the same company in an accident that happened in Nesitu, 25km from Juba. The bus registration number UAS 073P collided with a trailer registration number UAB 300E while on its way to Kampala. Some sources reported death toll reached 56.
This is the latest accident that involved devastating Bakulu bus after past similar incidences that claimed dozens of lives along Juba-Kampala highway. Base on information I gathered, 2011 contains worst records of that fatal transport company.
On July 03 and 26, 2011, two Kampala bound Bakulu buses with registration numbers UAQ 409D and UAM 727H crashed killing three passengers and 28 more injured along Juba-Nimule Road and Nimule-Gulu road respectively. Reckless driving and sticking to Uganda traffic rule of keeping left instead of observing right when crossing into South Sudan were blamed.
In June the same year, a deadly head on collision involving a Bakulu bus and Baby Coach in Nimule left 29 people dead and over 77 others injured. The bus that involved in accident was one of other Bakulu buses grounded at Gulu Central Police station following suspension of licenses of the bus company by Uganda’s Transport Licensing Board (TLB). It resumed operations after TLB ordered long distance buses to assign at least two drivers for each journey.
This directive from Uganda side did not end deaths of South Sudanese and foreign nationals in dreaded Bakulu Company. Moreover, whether Uganda police shared such information with their counterpart in South Sudan is another matter. Otherwise, Bakulu Transport Company Management has failed to contain reckless driving and accidents often commit by their drivers plying Kampala-Juba highway.
So far, South Sudan government has not made road safety laws to regulate road usage and mitigate daily accidents occurring in the country. But, if there is no such law, should Bakulu continue take more lives of passengers until National Assembly passes regulatory laws? Bakulu operations in the country should cease immediately.
A life of our people is more precious than money made by Bakulu Transport Company. If Uganda’s TLB cannot act on this fatal company, its operation should confine within Uganda borders.
This article was first published in The Juba Telegraph on Thursday, October 2, 2014. The author is journalist, blogger and political commentator based in Juba. He can be reached at mapuormanguen85@gmail.com
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