Uganda's Minister of Transport, the Honourable John Nasasira, was the guest of honour at the 2008 African Make Roads Safe Conference held in Kampala on 7 April. In his keynote address Minister Nasasira described road safety as a national top priority issue of the Ugandan Government and a growing worldwide concern.

With road traffic having increased by over 90 per cent since 2000, Uganda is facing a growing toll of road traffic injuries. Last year there were 14,390 crashes with 2,234 fatalities and 9,277 serious injuries. Pedestrians account for more than 1,000 of the fatalities.

The Minister highlighted the action his government is taking to reduce road injuries through a combination of tougher enforcement of traffic safety rules, public awareness and safer road infrastructure. He stressed that it is now the time to ensure that all road infrastructure investments have road safety impact assessments included at the design stage as is common practice for environmental aspects of such projects.

The Minister also praised the work of the FIA Foundation, World Bank and the World Health Organisation to support global road safety programmes and encouraged close cooperation as Uganda develops its national road safety strategy.

Giving a more regional perspective, Government representatives from Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe gave national presentations on their road safety situation and policies. Tidjani Chetina of the United Nations Economic Commission from Africa highlighted the commitment of African Transport Ministers to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in road traffic fatalities by 2015. This commitment was included in the Accra Declaration adopted by Ministers at the 4th African Road Safety Congress in Ghana last year.

The Kampala meeting was chaired by David Njoroge, the African member of the Commission for Global Road Safety and the Director General of AA Kenya. Auto clubs from eleven African countries participated in the event, which was hosted under the leadership of John Mutenda, President of AA Uganda.

Also speaking at the event was David Ward of the FIA Foundation and John Mumford of the International Road Assessment Programme.

Emotive addresses were given by Casey Marenge and Bright Oyeya, who were both disabled as a result of road crashes in Kenya but have founded Chariots of Destiny to campaign for road safety.

The meeting unanimously adopted recommendations in support of the goal of reducing the region's fatalities by 50 per cent by 2015. Closing the Conference, the Honourable Nahan Byanyima MP pledged the strong commitment of Uganda's Parliament to road safetyaction both nationally and globally. 

The conference was sponsored by the FIA Foundation and coincided with the annual meeting of Sub-Saharan Africa Touring Automobile Clubs, under the Chairmanship of Ed Kok of the AA of South Africa.