Rwanda National Police has warned commercial motorcyclists against recklessness and urged them to respect the practice of operating within their cooperatives in order to streamline their operations.

The Inspector General of Police, Emmanuel K. Gasana, made the appeal in a meeting with over 30 heads and representatives of commercial cyclists cooperatives operating in the City of Kigali, at the Rwanda National Police (RNP) headquarters in Kacyiru, yesterday.

The meeting was also attended by the Mayor of the City of Kigali, Fidele Ndayisaba, as well as officials from Rwanda Utility Regulatory Agency (Rura).

"Motorcyclists must be organised in their business. Some of them do not wear uniform while  others are very reckless and do not respect traffic rules or even respect the norms of their cooperatives. This behaviour must stop because it can’t be tolerated,” IGP Gasana said.

"Overloading is also common whereby motorcyclists carry people and luggage at the same time. This is a recipe for accidents. The cooperatives should also come out strong against their defiant members, organise and professionalise their business instead of letting few individuals continue to tarnish their image,” he added.

Mayor Ndayisaba urged the motorcyclists to hasten the launch of a website that will disseminate daily information about the progress and challenges of commercial motorcyclists, as a way of making their work more visible to the public.

"We agreed with Rura and the motorcyclist cooperatives that this website should be operational by February next year. This will ensure that all operators are known and make their work more critical in the eyes of the public,” he said.

"There are some errant motorcyclists who tarnish the image of their colleagues, but we also acknowledge the way some of the members have adhered to the good operations. There is need to devise tough measures against those that are still defiant,” Ndayisaba added.

Bosco Nshimiyimana, the head of commercial motorcyclists in Kacyiru, commended the Police in their endeavor to maintain traffic safety, and urged his colleagues to  operate more professionally in the coming year.

"We shall work hard  to ensure that every recommendation we agree on is implemented. We are seeking to develop in this activity and we can only do so by operating in a manner that every Rwandan appreciates.”

The meeting was meant to review the implementation of the previous one held in January this year, which adopted some resolutions, including operating in cooperatives, securing transport authorisation permit from Rura,  taking disciplinary action against  defiant members and harmonising uniform colours.

During a presentation on the implementation of the resolutions, it was revealed that cooperatives have so far blacklisted 88 of their members, 95 per cent of motorists have uniform while Rura respects the 10 days of issuing the transport authorisation permit although this process is sometimes hampered by heads of cooperatives who take long to take them to the regulatory body.