The East Africa Community (EAC) Secretariat and its Partner States will hold a virtual event today to officially mark the roll out of East Africa Community Regional Electronic Cargo and Driver Tracking System (RECDTS).
A joint statement by the EAC Secretariat and the Trademark East Africa (TMEA) said that the virtual launch will have a live link to Malaba border crossing points between Uganda and Kenya and Mirama Hills and Kagitumba, the border crossing point between Uganda and Rwanda.
“The roll out will provide a real time demonstration of driver registration and verification of EAC digital certificate at the border through a live video link transmitted through the virtual platform,” the statement said.
The guest speaker at this ministerial virtual event will be the European Ambassador to Kenya H.E Simon Mordue.
The EAC secretariat developed this application with the funding from European Union, Global Affairs Canada, Danida, Finland, Netherlands and the United Kingdom through TMEA.
This application was conceived to address the challenges manual certificates faced that included multiple testing of truck drivers at border crossing since there was no framework of mutual recognition of testing and test results across borders
Cases of documents fraud were also reported where truck drivers would forge national certificates and use them to cross borders. Also, there were cases of conflicting test results – this would happen when the same driver tested in one country having negative results, would be declared positive after being tested again in another country.
In order to find a solution to some of these challenges, the Joint Ministerial meeting of EAC Ministers responsible for Health and EAC Affairs held on the 25th March 2020, directed Partner States to establish a surveillance system to monitor crew health and enable contact tracing.
The process of development and installation of this system has now been completed and it is ready for roll out. It will enable mutual recognition of COVID-19 test results across borders; manage issuance of digital certificates for cross border movement of authorized persons during the COVID-19 pandemic and also provide a cross border joint coordination framework for Ministry of Health officials along the transit trade corridor to control the spread of the virus across borders.
The system will also enable digital verification of transit documents and travel authorization by law enforcement, customs and immigration at border crossings and other strategic locations along the transit corridors. It will also facilitate intuitive analyses of data and surveillance of mobility related to cross border movements for better management of the pandemic in relation to cross border mobile population segments.
It will also enable cross border sharing of information relating to truck driver movement and behaviour while on transit.
This system is riding on the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System (RECTS) platform for tracking cargo movement along the corridors, which previously lacked a component of tracking individuals, which has become necessary in the wake of Covid 19 pandemic.
Trucking companies will be required to get accredited on the system by registering drivers and crew members. Drivers will be required to have smart phones with reliable internet connection.
They will also be required to have their phones on throughout the journey, keeping in place designated routes and comply when needed to stop at designated stop points. The system has programmed these points.
The Ministry of Health has an account for relaying test results and another for validating COVID-19 free certificates before allowing the drivers to proceed. The protocol requires a driver to be tested 48 hours before the start of the journey by an accredited facility in any country as long as the facility is configured in the system.
Once the testing has been done, electronic certificates will be issued in form of a QR code for future scanning and validation by the health officials. No certificates will be issued for positive results and in the event of such cases, the country’s health protocols will apply.
By clicking to start the journey, the truck driver’s mobile phone will become a tracking gadget and will be visible to command centers till the end of the journey. The command centers will share information in real time. Alignment of the consignment to the truck will be done by East African Revenue Authorities (EARAs).
Health officials in designated points will test, validate certificates and update the information on the system.
At border points, which have experienced major gridlocks in the recent past, it will be a matter of confirmation by authorities before allowing entry or exit.
“Once tested, those who test negative will be issued with a digital COVID-19 free certificate and will be allowed to proceed with the journey while those who turn positive will not be issued with a digital certificate to proceed. The trucking company in question will have to assign the job to another driver with negative results. The certificates will have unique ID with validity dates with tests remaining confidential,” a stakeholder’s brief recently said.
Relief drivers will then log into the system, accept jobs and continue with their journey. Validation of certificates will be done by health authorities by scanning the QR codes and as per the social distance guidelines. The officers will update the info into the system at each stop point.
See details of the launch by following the link: https://bit.ly/325Bg0z
