Kenyan truck drivers who transport goods to Uganda have said that they want Kenyan medical personnel to conduct Covid-19 tests on them but not their Ugandan counterparts.
The truck drivers have expressed their distrust and fear in Uganda’s medical authorities whom they accuse of torturing them and treating them as rebels. Some have also started doubting the results of their tests.
On Tuesday, the Kenyan truck drivers threatened to stop transporting goods to Uganda until both governments resolve their existing challenges.
“Our drivers are being harassed so what I am saying is, stop going into Uganda. Let them come for their own cargo. We are going to stop going into Uganda until the two governments agree on how to address these issues,” Kenya Long Distance Truck Drivers Association, Secretary-General, Nicholas Mbugua said.
Due to increasing cases of truck drivers who test positive for COVID-19, Mbugua added that even local people in Uganda look at them as unwanted people who aim at ending their lives.
As a way of solving this impasse, Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) through their Chief Executive Dennis Ombok demands that Ugandan health authorities should stop mandatory tests on Kenyan drivers who have already been tested in Kenya.
“We don’t want our drivers to be tested in a foreign land where results can even be doctored and all our drivers declared positive. If they are to be tested, let them be tested by Kenyan authorities at the border,” said Ombok.
“Kenyan drivers are not allowed to stop even to eat or release themselves. They have been forced to carry buckets in the cabin which they use as toilets. They are also forced to carry their own food, water and even sleep in the same cabin.”
However, Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the spokesperson at the Ministry of Health in Uganda dismissed Ombok’s statement saying that no Kenyan truck driver has been mistreated.
“We are not discriminating them. As it was agreed that Kenyan government will be testing them, it will be so but when they enter into Uganda they must be tested again. If they tested negative why do they fear us to test them? We take their samples and test them, they should follow the standard procedures that were put in place,” he said.
During an interview with Watchdog Uganda on Friday, Rashid Mugasa, Country Manager for Kobo360 in Uganda said that Uganda is a landlocked country which depends on Mombasa port to transport goods to and from Kenya, accounting for about 83.2 per cent of transit cargo through the port. Therefore if truck drivers stop working, it will not only have a detrimental effect on their finances but also the movement of essential goods including food and medical supplies, which are needed during the current global crisis.
“As advised by the Ugandan government, drivers on the Kobo360 platform are undergoing the “relay trucking” process; this is where they stop at the border, sanitize their vehicles and pass along their goods to another driver so they do not cross international lines, in order to avoid further spread and delays involved with testing to cross borders. Better cooperation is needed now among EAC member states, as well as regional integration, in order to move around food items and medical supplies, which are of great importance in the response to COVID-19,” he said.
Mugasa added that cooperating with border officials is much needed as transport officers so that food security and transportation of other essential goods remains a major priority in such a crisis.
Also the East African Business Council (EABC) this week called on East Africa Community partner states to agree and implement a coordinated regional approach on Covid-19 to facilitate free movement of cargo across the region.
“EAC partner states should hold bilateral meetings to unlock barriers to free movement of cargo across the EAC region. Do not cause unnecessary cost and time burden to the free movement of goods and services in the EAC region. We should not discriminate or put fear or stigma to essential service providers but treat them with respect and understanding,” CEO Peter Mathuki said.
Uganda currently has 116 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with majority infections from truck drivers.
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