A typical evening afterwork drive home in Uganda’s capital city, Kampala, is synonymous with chaotic jammed roads. A 7-kilometre drive enroute to our homes can easily turn into a snail-paced, three-hour torturous ordeal. You need a special kind of compartment in your brain to draw patience from if you are to remain sane on your drive home.
Jokes aside, this traffic gridlock has far more effects than physical fatigue and emotional drain. Not only does traffic congestion cause air and noise pollution, but it also impacts the general quality of life. And as it seems, of the many approaches the government has tried, there seems to be no immediate solution.
Instead, the lack of an efficient public transport system leaves private car ownership as the only viable solution for any family that can afford a car, which ends up perpetuating the problem further. More private cars lead to overstraining and overwhelming the already badly maintained road network.
In the so many detrimental effects of a poor transport system, in my opinion, top of the list is the cost of human lives and the economic implication.
According to the 2022 Uganda Police Annual Report, the country registered 20,394 cases of road accidents in 2022, most of them fatal. This is an increase of 2,951 from last year’s records. At the current rate, road crashes will soon overtake malaria as the leading cause of death in the country.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated malaria deaths in Uganda at 19,600 in 2021. On the economic implication, according to research [1] done by Mwanje Mwabule, traffic jams could be lowering the country’s GDP to the tune of UGX 55–163 billion per year due to lost productive time while stuck in traffic jams. These are appalling statistics in every sense, yet these are not trends that can be reversed in a month or two. Could remote working be the silver bullet?
Reflecting on the success of remote work during the COVID-19 lockdown, organisations have a unique opportunity to again integrate remote working, which could benefit employees’ mental and physical health.
As Kampala grapples with its traffic nightmare, it’s high time to reconsider outdated commuting norms. Embracing remote work policies, as suggested by Betty Ogiel, a Human Resource Specialist and Leadership Coach, not only benefits employee livelihoods through enhanced mental health but could lead to economic benefits in the long run.
