Transporters in Kenya have petitioned Uganda government to consider flexing the strict transit transport measures it has planned to introduce to contain the spread of Covid 19 pandemic.
Last week, President Yoweri Museveni said truck drivers should employ a system where local drivers pick the trucks at border points and drive them to either to their destination or to the next border points.
Also, Internal Affairs Minister Gen Jeje Odongo told a media briefing last week that the government was considering a relay system where a driver is stopped at the border, the truck is sanitised and handed over to a local driver to move the cargo to its destination if inbound or to the next border point if transiting.
In a press statement over the weekend, the Chief Operating Officer at the Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) Ms. Mercy Ireri said that transporters would face serious challenges in deploying other drivers across the region.
“This would require new drivers’ recruitment and training and would drastically increase the cost of transportation to the trucking companies while the business has been affected by reduced cargo volumes and longer transit times,” the press release said, adding that this would also incur additional expenses in providing accommodation for additional drivers.
Other issues KTA raised include security and safety of the cargo, which would be compromised by multiple drivers involved in a single haulage. Too, truckers would face challenges in tracing driver’s responsibilities on trucks misuse, damages and theft of fuel.
“Relay drivers would raise the challenges with regards to insurance as any accident or theft would likely be challenged by the insurance companies,” Mercy said.
Truck drivers, according to Uganda authorities are going to be the main challenge as the country continue to register more positive cases of Covid 19, said Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Diana Atwiine in a tweet on Friday.
The ministry said six drivers from Tanzania who entered the country through the Mutukula border point and five drivers from Kenya last week had tested positive raising the total number of Covid-19 cases to 74. Among the Kenyan drivers, three entered through Malaba and two through the Busia border point.
The figure is causing anxiety in the country as truck drivers, who are known to traverse the length and breadth of the country, now account for about 26 per cent of the county’s total infection rate.
In view of the prevailing challenges, KTA made a number of suggestions. If a driver is found to be COVID-19 negative, the same driver should be allowed to proceed with the trip to its destination.
Drivers found to be Covid-19 Positive to be put in isolation as guided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) rules and the transporter be informed to make arrangements for another driver to undergo the Covid-19 test and proceed with the journey.
That the Covid-19 tests at the boarders be hastened and congestion be avoided by drivers being allocated numbers for testing and avoid the queues.
“We propose further and faster stakeholders’ engagement to help come up with a workable cargo movement approach within the 4-weeks window during this Covid-19 pandemic,” KTA concluded.
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