Truckers in Kenya have issued a number of resolutions which they say if implemented by various players involved in transit cargo would ease congestion at Malaba border post and minimize the need for using relay drivers, which is being pushed by the regional transit destination countries.
Kenya Transporters Association (KTA), a lobby group for heavy commercial transporters, in a statement, spelt these measures, adding that Kenya transporters have already urged their members to adhere to all regulations and guidelines issued by various organs to contain Covid 19.
This followed a serious congestion at the Malaba Border recently that is stretching for over 50 kilometres on the Kenya side of the borders as the drivers wait to be cleared for Covid 19 for onward movement to Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan.
Following this crisis, a number of Principal Secretaries from relevant ministries in Kenya met at the border with transporters and truck drivers representatives to discuss how to tackle the congestion with an inter- ministerial meeting between Kenya and Uganda planned for today.
Among the measures the transporters said to have put in place include prohibition of drivers from carrying any passengers along the corridor. They are also required to use face masks, sanitizers, self-quarantine in truck every time it is possible to do that.
Other measures transporters have adopted include sanitizing trucks after every trip and regularly doing the same in their truck holding yards.
They have also agreed to adhere to the Uganda Government Trade and National Task Force Sub-Committee on usage of designated stops, same journey plans, no diversion of the trucks from designated rules, one driver per truck and use of Personal Protective Equipment.
But they say that the use of relay driving, where the truck is handed over to Uganda drivers at the border crossing is more inconveniencing since it will be hard to implement the measure without delays and other associated costs.
“We hereby petition the government to review its position of the proposed plans of relay driving,” the resolutions read in part
The regional road transport and freight forwarding industry led by the Federation of East African Freight Forwarders Associations (FEAFFA), in a petition made recently to the EAC Partner States , observed that they were experiencing challenge of getting equally competent truck drivers across borders due to lack of a harmonized Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) professional driver training.
“The levels of exposure to various technologies is posing road safety and asset integrity challenges,” a petition said.
They observed that this would affect smooth operations of handling cargo and once the high costs associated with this are handed over the end users, it will increase the costs of goods and services.
Small and medium sized transporters lacking capacity to mobilize the requisite resources may be driven out of business, the petition said. Also, relay driving will create difficulties in handling insurance claims related to the cargo and the trucks in case of any eventuality, uncertainty on the safety of the cargo, the trucks as well as fuel due to the of involvement multiple drivers.
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