By Brian Mugenyi
mugenyijj@gmail.com
Kampala: Hundreds of taxi operators, bus and track drivers convened on a chilly Tuesday at Gaddafi National Mosque to discuss the future of Uganda’s transport system.
For decades, Uganda’s taxi industry under the Ministry of Works and Transport has moved to the rhythm of petrol and diesel engines.
But at Gaddafi National Mosque on Tuesday 11th August 2026, the conversation was different.
The more than 500 taxi operators who gathered there were not merely discussing fares, routes or the daily struggles of public transport. They were confronting a bigger question: what happens when the vehicle powering Uganda’s transport economy no longer needs petrol?
Led by Hajji Rashid Ssekindi under the Uganda Taxi Operators Federation, the operators held bilateral discussions on the future of the taxi business, with electric mobility emerging as one of the most consequential issues facing the sector.
At the centre of the conversation was Union Transport Alliance (UTA), led by Fred Ssenoga, which is positioning itself as a bridge between Uganda’s traditional transport operators and a rapidly changing world of electric buses, motorcycles, taxis and other mobility solutions.
For Ssekandi, the electric future is no longer a distant possibility.
It is a destination Uganda must begin preparing for now.
A lesson from China
Ssekindi said his recent experience studying the transport sector in China changed his perception of what Uganda’s public transport system could become.
What he saw, he said, was a transport industry increasingly embracing electric mobility and modern vehicle technologies.
He returned with a message for Uganda’s transport operators and policymakers: the country cannot afford to watch the global transport revolution from the roadside.
“The transport system requires the resurgence from petrol and diesel to electric cars. That is what the future holds for the transport system,” Ssekindi said.
He argued that Uganda should study the experiences of countries that have invested heavily in electric transport and adapt those lessons to local realities.
The transition, however, must include the ordinary transport operator.
For Ssekindi, modernising Uganda’s transport sector should not mean pushing existing taxi operators out of business. Instead, they should be given an opportunity to own, operate and benefit from the new technologies.
UTA enters the equation
This is where Union Transport Alliance comes in.
Ssekindi credited UTA, under Ssenoga, with helping transport operators access a wider range of mobility solutions.
He said the alliance was helping to bridge the gap between transport operators and modern mobility products, including buses, electric boda bodas and taxis.
The significance of that intervention lies beyond the vehicles themselves.
For an industry dominated by small and medium-sized operators, access to affordable vehicles, financing, technology and reliable after-sales support could determine whether Uganda’s electric-mobility transition becomes a mass movement or remains limited to a few early adopters.
The operators therefore want the government and private sector to create an ecosystem in which electric vehicles can become commercially viable.
The road from fuel to electricity
Ssekindi’s argument is simple: Uganda’s transport industry must begin preparing for the gradual shift away from internal-combustion engines.
But the transition will require more than importing electric vehicles.
It will require charging infrastructure.
It will require financing.
It will require skilled technicians.
It will require safety standards.
And, perhaps most importantly, it will require a transport policy that places the operator at the centre of technological change.
Ssekindi called for stronger government support, particularly from the Ministry of Works and Transport, in improving road safety and supporting transport-sector development.
He also urged the authorities to engage directly with people operating within communities instead of relying exclusively on office-based assessments of transport challenges.
“The Government should support the growth of the transport sector by assessing safety measures and working with community people,” he said.
The taxi industry cannot be left behind
The urgency of the discussion is rooted in the importance of taxis to Uganda’s urban economy.
Ssekindi said the taxi business supports the livelihoods of more than 100,000 people, directly and indirectly, and remains indispensable to Kampala and other urban centres.
He therefore warned taxi operators against internal divisions and called for greater discipline and teamwork.
The argument is that an industry preparing for a technological revolution cannot afford to remain fragmented.
Electric mobility will bring new questions to the table: Who owns the vehicles? Who finances them? Who builds charging stations? Who services the batteries? What happens to drivers and mechanics whose livelihoods depend on conventional engines?
Those questions will require collective answers.
Beyond the vehicle
For UTA, the transport ecosystem is also about social impact.
Alice Natukunda, the alliance’s Brand Ambassador, said UTA had distributed 680 Union sanitary-pad packages to students, presenting the initiative as part of its wider ecosystem.
She also praised the taxi industry for the role it plays in connecting ordinary citizens to economic and social opportunities.
Natukunda said the taxi business had helped extend the benefits of decentralisation to ordinary Ugandans by providing mobility between communities, markets and services.
Her argument adds another dimension to the electric-mobility debate.
The question is not simply what powers a vehicle.
It is what kind of society that vehicle helps create.
Uganda’s moment of choice
Uganda now stands at an important crossroads.
One road continues with the familiar world of petrol and diesel, where operators understand the technology but remain exposed to fuel costs and other pressures.
The other points towards electric mobility — a world requiring new infrastructure, new skills and new investment, but one that transport stakeholders increasingly believe Uganda must prepare for.
Ssekindi’s message from China is therefore less about replacing one vehicle with another than it is about changing the way Uganda thinks about transportation.
The taxi operator of tomorrow may still pick up passengers from the same roadside.
The route may remain the same.
The passenger may still bargain over the fare.
But beneath the floor, the engine of that journey could be powered by electricity.
That is the revolution now knocking on Uganda’s transport door.
And the question is no longer whether the country should prepare for it.
The question is whether Uganda’s transport industry will lead the electric transition — or be forced to catch up after the world has already moved on.
