Transporters have averred they will continue to paralyze cargo operations along the Kenya-Uganda border unless officials of the two East African states address their plight amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) Chief Executive Officer Dennis Ombok said they are resolved to continue with the border protests against the alleged high handedness by officials on the Ugandan side of the border.
Addressing a press conference in Mombasa on Saturday Ombok said truckers who were on the Ugandan side of the border were recently teargassed by Ugandan security forces on grounds that they were disobeying social distancing directives and other health protocols.
The truckers’ CEO also protested inordinate delays in releasing of Covid-19 results leading to long queues and trade disruptions at the border crossing points.
He said many of the drivers who took the Covid-19 tests several days ago are not aware of the outcome of those tests to date despite continued promises that the results would be known within 48 hours.
Ombok said truck drivers were now being discriminated and stigmatized along the northern transport corridor with claims that they have become the real threat to efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
The KTA official claimed the authorities are using the coronavirus pandemic to sabotage cross border trade and drive transporters out of business.
“We want the government to send a high level delegation just as they did with Tanzania to resolve our Covid-19 grievances with Ugandans,” he said.
