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Truck drivers in Mbarara City have demonstrated over alleged extortion by Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) officials at a weighbridge.

The truck drivers and owners, who met the Unra Executive Director, Ms Allen Kagina, at the weekend, complained that the officials at the fixed weighbridge in Koranorya on Mbarara-Kampala Highway force them to pay Shs500,000 weekly for each truck carrying sand.

‘’We acquire loans before buying these Sino trucks but we are charged a lot of taxes even before earning any single coin. They ask us to pay Shs500,000 per week, which they claim goes to the UNRA account,” Mr Boaz Kasaga Ssentamu, the chairman of Sino truck and Machine owners, said.

He added: “They increase taxes, intimidating us that UNRA bosses sat and therefore charges should be increased to Shs700,000 and we have to pay in a week. If you do not pay on time, a fine of Shs1.2 million is charged.”

Mr Ssentamu explained that drivers pay a Shs3 million fine for not covering their sand while on the road and yet the money is not credited on Unra’s accounts.

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