Uganda, April 30 -- Two weeks ago I opted to travel by public transport to my village, Usuk-Katakwi (UK), leaving my favourite car, which I refer to as South African Airlines. After my business in the village, I travelled back using the same means of transport via Mbale city.

A remarkable thing I noticed was a sizable number of bus companies plying the Kampala-Mbale-Soroti route.

I left my village quite early with the intention of reaching Kampala early to beat the Mukono-Kampala traffic jam. Reaching Soroti at midday and trying to head to the recently declared bus terminal in Soroti, I was confronted by numerous bus agents of different bus companies, each eager to give a ticket before reaching the bus park.

Surprisingly all buses had ...