HOIMA: Abdul Azizi Massa, a resident of Wakiso district, is accusing Hoima Bus company of abandoning him after breaking his left leg on August 1, 2016. According to Massa, he was knocked down by a Hoima Bus coach, registration number UAT 688W, which was being driven by Yusuf Mukamba.
Massa explains that on the fateful day, he was standing opposite Majab Pump Fuel Station in Kakiri waiting for a taxi to Kampala to book a bus at Trinity Bus terminal for his travel to Rwanda later in the night. He was serving as a technician for AZ Printing & Promotions Company.
As I waited for a taxi to take me to town, I saw the Hoima Coach driver seemingly in competition with a taxi driver. The taxi would attempt to overtake, but it would be blocked by the bus driver. I decided to stand very far. However, the bus driver still hit me from there, “Massa recounts.”
According to Massa, the bus threw him in the middle of the road where he was also knocked by the taxi driver, who was seemingly competing for space with the bus driver. Kakiri police station entered a case vide reference number TAR 34/2016 showing that the Hoima bus coach, registration number UAT 683W, being driven by Yusuf Mukamba, knocked Massa.
Police also indicated that Massa was also knocked by a taxi with registration number UAW 883Q that was being driven by Kitaka Ibrahim. Sgt. Charles Okorom, who compiled the traffic report, identified Mukamba as a resident of Bujumbula division in Hoima municipality, now Hoima Oil City, while Kitaka was a resident of Kyebando in Nansana Municipality in Wakiso district.
Massa spent over 30 days at Mulago National Referral Hospital, where he was rushed after the accident. He, however, says that no official from Hoima Coaches showed up at the hospital despite police having recorded the case. Massa explains that even after being discharged, neither the officials of the bus company nor the taxi driver who knocked him have shown up.
I lost my job where I was earning Sh2 million monthly because I was the most senior printing machine technician. I decided to open a civil suit against the bus company, but the case has been frustrating all this time. “I visited many places but they said they could not employ me in my current state,” Massa said.
Although the civil suit has not progressed, Kakiri police took the criminal case to Wakiso Chief Magistrate’s Court. The court heard the matter in absentia of Yusuf Mukamba and Ibrahim Kitaka. It delivered a guilty verdict on September 6, 2018, based on traffic police investigations and testimonies from passengers.
The court ordered Mukamba and Kitaka to compensate Massa for Sh9 million, including Sh5 million for the medical expenses. “I cannot find Ibrahim Kitaka because he disappeared the moment Kakiri police released him on bond.” I often see Mukamba Yusuf, but he insists he did not knock me down. The bus company said it wasn’t their driver. The Excel Insurance Company, which insured the bus, said they could only pay me if the bus owners accepted that they knocked me down. I don’t know who will help me. I need justice, “Massa said.
Mukamba hung up the phone call the moment our reporter asked about Massa. Kitaka’s telephone contact captured in the police report was picked up by someone in Mbarara who said he had never been a driver in Kampala.
Massa hired, among other law firms, Muwema & Co Advocates, Ninsiima & Co Advocates, Tumusiime & Co Advocates, and Obedi & Co Advocates to represent him in his civil suit, which he says has never kicked off. In all these years, Massa says whenever he is in court, the magistrate doesn’t show up. When the magistrate is present, his lawyers are absent.
