Cyclists accuse the security personnel of extorting money from them to bail their way out during curfew hours
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Boda boda cyclists in Gulu City have petitioned security officials over brutality and extortion by patrol teams enforcing the curfew.
Under their umbrella body of Gulu Northern City Boda Boda Association with over 800 members, the cyclists accuse the security personnel of extorting money from them to bail their way out during curfew hours.
Moses Ojok, the Chairperson Gulu Northern Boda Boda Association says that police and army personnel have also been torturing several of their members for defying the curfew times yet the vice goes unattended to much as they report to their superiors.
Ojok says that his office has registered hundreds of cases in which the security team demands between 20,000 and 50,000 Shillings for impounded motorcycles while others resort to battering them if they cannot heed to their demands.
He disclosed that on Saturday they met with the security officials in Gulu City including Denis Odwong, the Resident City Commissioner, Brigadier General Bonny Bamwiseki, the fourth division barracks army commander and the Gulu District Police Commander.
They demanded that the security personnel implicated in extortion and brutality be arraigned before the law and penalized. They also requested leniency from the security personnel while enforcing the curfew time.
Sheikh Musa Khalil, the Khadi for Acholi Muslim District accuses the security personnel of using the curfew to extort money from boda boda cyclists and brutalize them yet they are fending for themselves and their families.
Dennis Odwong Odongpiny the Gulu City Resident Commissioner says that his office and the security officials have received the concerns and instituted a team to start investigations.
He also urged the motorcyclists to report such cases to the security officials for easy investigations.
Odongpiny equally appealed to the cyclists to be considerate and abide by the curfew times to avoid confrontation with the security.
Last year, the government imposed a curfew as part of the guidelines to stop the spread of Covid-19. Curfew hours for vehicles now stand at 9 pm and 6 pm for boda bodas.
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