Yesterday, one of Uganda' biggest (if not the biggest) digital transport company SafeBoda management updated its operating Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) that have since then caused mayhem among it's users.
The Terms that articularly stated: “We will not be liable for any damages, direct incidental, and or consequential, arising out of the use of SafeBoda, including without limitation, damages arising out of communicating and or meeting with other participants of SafeBoda.”
“We have no responsibility whatsoever for the actions or conduct of any serviced providers or users. We have no obligation to intervene in any way in disputes that may arise between drivers, riders or third parties,” reads a section of the new T&Cs.
Immediately, the app's users began reacting to this development, where one journalist Joseph Sabiti said on Twitter, “Let’s just remove the word safe and remain with Boda.”
“But SafeBoda- the reason I loved you was because of the safety associated…Do you see how this becomes UnsafeBoda?” Lillian Ajiku tweeted. Recent days have also seen SafeBoda clients echo complaints over riders refusing to take passengers who prefer paying using the ‘Wallet option’ that involves directly paying to the company online. Those are some of the reactions from the angry users.
A SafeBoda rider preferring anonymity told Daily Monitor that the company had-starting late 2020 ceased remitting to them ‘sufficient’ profits arising from the ‘wallet’ payment option.
However, the company has of today been doing what one could call "damage control" and got some influencers to run a hashtag #IamOkWithSafeBodaTc on social media.
The company last year came into the spotlight after it was associated with illicit sharing of users’ data without consent. However, they were on February 02, 2021, exonerated through a National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U) report that said the company rather did not sell users’ data.
According to the company’s newly adopted T&Cs policy, there is solely inclination with responsibility now entirely resting upon the user for any consequence arising out of the use of their services. When contacted, the communications team at the company declined to comment on the issue saying: “It would be a violation of company protocols.
