Long-distance truck drivers threat to Busia

Busia government and residents are worried that two border towns may become the next coronavirus hotspots.

There are long queues of trucks at the border in Malaba and Busia towns after the government ordered mass testing of their drivers and crews. 

This was after it emerged that Kenya could be exporting the virus to its neighbours.

Among people who have tested positive for the virus in Uganda are truck drivers who left the Malaba and Busia border points.

The truck drivers transport goods to Uganda, Rwanda, DR Congo and South Sudan.

The drivers and their crews now have to be tested for the virus before they are cleared to proceed with their journey.

By Tuesday, the queue formed by the trucks stretched more than 30 kilometres along the Malaba-Bungoma highway and more than 15 kilometres along the Busia-Kisumu highway.

The crews are forced to spend the nights in hotels or in their trucks as it takes three days to get the results. 

This means increased interaction with sex workers. The two towns have a high HIV-Aids prevalence.

Residents, concerned for their health, are now keenly observing the measures outlined by the government to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Busia has not reported any active case.

Residents are streaming to the Malaba border port health screening centre and the One-Stop Border Post in Busia for voluntary screening.

Malaba Port health manager Evelyn Walela said officials thoroughly screen every truck crew before allowing them to cross the border.

“Those coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Rwanda, which have reported cases, are not allowed to enter Kenya," Walela said.

"Their trucks are fumigated and then they are handed to the drivers from their respective companies on the Kenyan side to drive them to Mombasa."

Governor Sospeter Ojaamong last Saturday asked the national government to devise other means of transporting cargo as the presence of long-distance truck drivers poses a great threat to residents.

“It could consider rerouting all transit cargo to the old railway line for containers from the Port of Mombasa to Uganda and Great Lakes region and all fuel to be transported through the Port of Kisumu, and the railway line to Uganda and Tanzania respectively,” he said.

“Uganda has reported a few cases where Kenyan truck drivers have tested positive after passing through Busia and Malaba, thus heightening fears of the pandemic striking the county if no urgent measures are taken to find a lasting solution to the traffic pile-up." 

Busia vendor Josephine Chabara said she had abandoned her hawking business to keep herself safe. Most of her clients are truck drivers. 

Linus Okumu, a boda boda operator in Malaba town, said, “I check my body temperature every three days because I interact with truck drivers every day and you cannot know the status of whoever you are carrying on your motorbike.”

Shop owner Oscar Almasi said the truck drivers are a threat because they spend nights in Malaba as they wait for their test results.

Edited by R.Wamochie