Coronavirus: Truckers decry 'frustrating' health screening at Uganda border

25 Mai 2020

Nairobi, Kenya, May 25  (Infosplusgabon) - Truck drivers stuck along Bungoma-Malaba highway on the Kenya-Uganda border are decrying frustrating coronavirus screening by Ugandan authorities.

The drivers told the Kenyan media on Sunday that they were frustrated by  lengthy waiting period at the border post.

The drivers staged a protest on Sunday citing persecution and increased suspicion.

Some said they have had to wait for as long as a week before being cleared to proceed to Uganda.

And, the truckers are not only Kenyan nationals, they are drawn from Kenya, Rwanda and eastern DR Congo.

The drivers transport goods to and from landlocked countries - Uganda and Rwanda from Kenya's Port of Mombasa and the dry port in Naivasha, central Kenya.

“Whenever we go, we are told we have coronavirus, we wonder what is the point of being tested," a driver told the media.

He said they have been locked out of hotels and whenever they try to prepare food on their own, their gas cylinders are  taken away. On certain occasions their food and other items  were stolen.

Kenya and Uganda are members of the East African Community (EAC), a six-member regional trading block. Other partners are Burundi, Tanzania, South Sudan and Rwanda.

Three months since the outbreak of the pandemic in the East African region, East Africans have reason to believe that the regional body has since put in place a common anti-coronavirus protocol.

This should speed up screening of the pandemic and ease cross-border trade.

The truckers said delayed processing of COVID-19 tests has negatively impacted their businesses urging the government to intervene and resolve the standoff.

Health Chief Administrative Secretary Rashid Aman on Sunday noted that the border standoff  is a sensitive matter which will be resolved amicably by Presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Yoweri Museveni.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/AHG/GABON2020

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