Kampala: Business came to a halt last evening in Downtown Kampala near the Taxi park when a passenger taxi suddenly stopped to allow another vehicle to go first as it had the right of way.
According to an eyewitness, Nanziri Hasfa commonly known as Hajati Kawogo, a roadside fried cassava street vendor, “Everyone was going about their business and everything was looking just fine as usual. Taxis and bodabodas were going down the wrong lane, traffic was bumper to bumper, hawkers were playing hide and seek with KCCA officials, taxi drivers were hurling insults at anyone and street kids, beggars, conmen and pickpockets were busy. Then suddenly something unprecedented happened. A taxi going up the wrong side of the road stopped to allow another vehicle to go first. From that moment there was chaos on the street and the nearby police came in to quell the pandemonium. People including Police were just too shocked to see a taxi driver respect another road user”
This incident quickly went viral as passengers were seen taking pictures of the taxi driver and sharing it on social media. Majority of people who wiped out their phones to record the incident had the phones snatched by thugs.
The driver meanwhile was himself shocked and wanted to find out the reason why he was being treated like a celebrity. KiwaniPost spoke to him and he said, “I was driving on the wrong side of the road for quite some time and when I saw a car in the same lane, I stopped to allow him go first. I don’t know why people are over-reacting.”
Eyewitnesses said that this is something historic and it has never happened before in the dusty downtown. Taxis break all traffic rules and do not have respect at all for any other drivers on the road and coming across a qualified, sober and sane driver is something unthinkable in the ever jammed downtown streets.
Not to be left behind political parties were seen cashing in on this event. A ruling party MP hailed the taxi driver as a patriot who had slapped difiance right in the face while the main opposition party says this is a diversionery tactic by KCCA and the government to divert city dwellers from issues bothering them.
