The politics of the boda boda

Few things in Uganda are revered and reviled in almost equal measure as the boda boda. The two-wheeler, which comes in handy when the country’s cities reach gridlock during peak hours, has many desperate lows. Recent anger at the motorcycle taxi has been fuelled by the idea that the true index of the collective heart of its operators was on full display when a national rugby player, Sydney Gongodyo, was caught in the cross-hairs of vigilantism. 

The mob in the Kampala suburb of Bukoto, whose violent temperament instantly asserted itself at the allegations of a mugging, for the most…