• Truckers want presidents Kenyatta and Museveni to meet them and address the issue.
• They allege to be harassed, sexually assaulted and killed in Uganda.
Image: /JOHN NALIANYA
Ten truck drivers have been arrested for obstruction and wrong parking even as the government moves in to ease a traffic gridlock at the Busia and Malaba border points.
Busia county commissioner Jospeh Kanyiri Wednesday said they 10 were arrested during an operation to clear the long queues that stretch for over 4okm.
"More truck drivers will be arrested and charged as long as they continue to defy government orders," Knyiri said.
The development came after the state promised to use force to ensure that the Kenya-Uganda border that was blocked at Malaba is reopened.
Kanyiri said the state has been irked by the closure that has caused a major traffic snarl-up.
The jam has stretched from Malaba to Kanduyi with more than 10,000 trucks parked on both sides of the road.
The truck drivers from the Kenyan side went on a go-slow protesting the alleged inhumane treatment and harassment by Ugandan soldiers.
The drivers barricaded the border with petroleum trucks which they dumped at the border and deflated their tyres.
Kanyiri said the state will arrest and charge drivers inciting others.
"We have had this issue of truck drivers blocking the road for the past week and has brought about panic to residents who fear that Covid-19 might be spread more," he added.
He said the government has unsuccessfully tried diplomacy by asking the drivers to open up the road.
The drivers want presidents Uhuru Kenyatta and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda to appear in person and address their plight, but Mureithi said the demands are unrealistic.
The administrator said the police and other security agencies will ensure the road is open and the business between Kenya and Uganda resumes smoothly.
"We are calling upon the drivers who have been locked by others to tell us so that we may help them and deal with those inciting them," he added.
"We know many want to go on with their journey but a few elements are inciting them and we will handle them amicably.”
He said traffic has started to flow and that within two days, the jam would have cleared.
Kanyiri was accompanied by Administration Police commandant Noor Gabow and his GSU counterpart.
Gabow said enough police officers have been deployed at the border to deal with any person disturbing others.
"We have come here after a consultative meeting with this region’s security team and we want to assure residents that normalcy will return soon," he said.
Gabow said the truck drivers and owners are holding the country to ransom and that it would not be accepted.
The goods ferried by the trucks, including petroleum products and gas, are flammable hence pose a danger to residents, Gabow said.
"These trucks are not allowed to be parked more than 15 minutes on the road reserve," he said.
The drivers will be charged for parking unlawfully, he said.
"It is saddening that some drivers have punctured the trucks and disconnected the wiring system that has taken us more than four hours to remove,” he said adding that the licences of those in the frontline of the protest will be revoked.
Kenyan and Ugandan officials are in talks on how to address the allegations of harassment of Kenyan truckers in Uganda, the police boss said.
He said wrongfully parked trucks whose owners are not found will be towed to police stations “because the blockage has caused huge economic sabotage”.
Mombasa truck driver Iddi Koja said they have been harassed since the coronavirus broke out in the country.
"We are told to be screened from Mombasa, Voi, Machakos, Nairobi and Eldoret and we don't know what to do," he said.
He urged the state to hear their cry for help “or they will not open the border even if forced”.
Peter Njoroge, a driver ferrying petrol to Kampala from Mombasa, said they have demonstrated over the harassment and not from fear of being tested for Covid-19.
"They steal our cooking gas and food items in Busitiema in Uganda and we want justice.”
Truck drivers are helping the economy of the county and are fathers, sons and children of other people, Njoroge said.
Edited by R.Wamochie