A Tuk-Tuk driver arrested for taking part rally over bad streets

As a mark of their protest against poor roads and blocked drainage systems in the entire city, the rickshaw drivers who are Taxpayers staged the demonstration to demand accessible streets.

News Keydmedia Online
15 June 2021

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Somali security forces have detained a young Tuk-Tuk driver in Mogadishu for attending a large protest on the bad and pathetic roads in the capital.

Abdi Fitah Ismail was arrested in Hamarweyne district police station shortly after returning from the rally that was held outside the presidential palace on Tuesday, according to his colleagues.

As a mark of their protest against poor roads and blocked drainage systems in the entire city, the rickshaw drivers who are Taxpayers staged the demonstration to demand accessible streets.

“We pay a tax of $15 every month and nothing is done on our levy, the roads are flooded, we have no social service from Mogadishu municipality. Every dollar we pay never returns to the public,” he said.

The Benadir regional administration led by Omar Filish, a former warlord was reportedly upset by Ismail's remarks and was arrested for raising his concerns in a peaceful rally, a right granted by the constitution.

The Tuk-Tuk motorcyclists face problems from the government forces on the streets every day, and as taxpayers, they are still victims, subjected to killings, torture, intimidation, and barred from some streets.

The large sum of money received as taxation from the rickshaw drivers is not being built on damaged roads which become inaccessible during the rainy season.

KEYDMEDIA English