Malaba transport has been disrupted after striking truckers blocked the highway to protest against ‘harassment’ by Ugandan authorities.
The alleged discrimination stems from measures to control the spread of the coronavirus.
PSVs on the Bungoma-Malaba route have been forced to detour at Kimaiti before connecting to Angurai and Malaba. Kimaiti is 30km from Malaba town.
Travellers have been forced to pay higher PSV fares.
Cargo trucks lined up in four lanes, completely sealing off the Bungoma-Malaba highway between Malaba and Amagoro, a distance of seven kilometres.
Some travellers between Malaba to Bungoma have been forced to use boda bodas.
Tororo District Police Commander (DPC) Rogers Chebene explains that the delays are due to picking samples and then taking them to laboratories in Entebbe for testing.
“samples have to be taken to Entebbe then back… the issue of jam came up because people have to wait,” he said, adding, “there is some improvement now because they added vehicles to transport samples”.
After an assertive push from the public, government officials decided to only allow truckers whose results have confirmed negative to enter into the country. To ramp up testing speeds, Gene-Xpert machines, which do 32 tests in an hour, were acquired. However, these machines have not been fully utilized. There have also been plans to have truck drivers tested from their home countries, however, heads of states haven’t agreed on the work plan. With this initiative, truckers will only have to present a certificate and they will be allowed into the country.
Truckers demand assurance from President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni that what they call the constant harassment they receive while in Uganda will stop.
