Former State Minister for Health Mike Mukula has recounted how President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni once abandoned his presidential convoy and jumped onto a boda boda to beat traffic and reach his nomination venue at Kololo. The extraordinary incident happened during the preparations for the 2001 presidential election, when heavy crowds reportedly threatened to disrupt the president’s schedule on a crucial day in his political career.
Mukula, who was then the Member of Parliament for Soroti Municipality, recalled that the presidential convoy had become trapped in traffic as crowds gathered along the route. With time running out before the nomination deadline, he advised Museveni to leave his vehicle and use a motorcycle taxi to navigate through the congestion.
According to Mukula, the unexpected decision provided a practical solution when the convoy could no longer move as quickly as required.In a post shared on X, Mukula credited State House official Moses Byaruhanga with helping to arrange the boda boda that carried Museveni towards Kololo. He described a tense situation in which the president risked arriving late for the nomination exercise. The motorcycle offered a way to bypass the congestion, turning an ordinary means of transport into an important part of the day’s events.Mukula recalled that they had less than 45 minutes remaining when the decision was made to use the motorcycle, adding that they reached the officials with only 15 minutes to spare.
However, some details of his account differ from historical reports about the incident, including the exact timing and the officials involved. These differences have made it important to distinguish Mukula’s recollection from other published accounts of what happened that day.Historical reporting places Museveni’s nomination at Kololo on January 9, 2001, rather than in 2000 as Mukula suggested. A Daily Monitor report published in March 2018 stated that Electoral Commission chairman Hajji Aziz Kasujja declared Museveni duly nominated at 3:57 p.m., ahead of the 5 p.m. deadline. This account differs from Mukula’s suggestion that the president arrived with only 15 minutes remaining before the deadline.Museveni himself revisited the incident in 2018 while speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of judges.
He explained that he had underestimated the crowds between Nakasero and Kololo and became concerned that he might fail to reach the nomination venue in time. Faced with the possibility of missing the deadline, the president said he opted for a boda boda rather than remaining inside his vehicle as traffic continued to build up.The motorcycle rider was identified by New Vision as Sam Kabuga, who was reportedly 18 years old at the time and operated a boda boda from Nateete.
Kabuga later recalled that security personnel selected him from among riders gathered at Kololo. He reportedly carried Museveni for approximately 500 metres before the president dismounted and continued towards the pavilion. According to Kabuga’s account, he did not charge the president for the ride.The incident took place ahead of the March 12, 2001 presidential election, in which Museveni faced five challengers, including his main opponent, Dr Kizza Besigye. Museveni won the election with 69.3 per cent of the vote, while Besigye received 27.8 per cent. More than two decades later, Mukula’s recollection has revived memories of the unusual journey, illustrating how a boda boda reportedly helped Museveni overcome a traffic jam during one of the most important moments of his early presidential campaigns.
