The plight of Tanzanian truck drivers stuck at Namanga border

What you need to know:

Scores of Tanzanian lorry drivers transporting goods to Kenya have been stranded at the Namanga border after Kenyan authorities introduced mandatory test for coronavirus.

Arusha. Truck drivers transporting goods to Kenya through the Namanga border in Longido District have found themselves victims of the Covid-19 testing exercise which they claim takes too long.
The drivers say they are now incurring extra costs while awaiting results.They told The Citizen yesterday that the testing procedure at the border was complex and cumbersome.
One of the drivers from Dar es Salaam, Issa Hamizi, said they were more than 400 waiting for the results.
He said they have been prevented from crossing the border without undergoing Covid-19 screening.
“The process poses a lot of questions because the health officer testing us does not wash hands after testing a person and we are scared that we might get infection in the process,” he said.
He said they are forced to spend outside their normal budgets for hotel boarding and food and they are not allowed to sleep in their lorries as the case is in the Tanzanian side of the border.
Another driver, Elias Mkin-di, from Arusha called on the government to collaborate with the Kenyan government to expedite the testing process.
He noted that Kenya has set procedures that require all drivers to have a clearance certificate that proves they have not contracted the disease.
Mohammed Said told The Citizen they are forced to pay more in parking fees. He claimed he has been waiting for his results for five days at the Loliondo area without an idea of when he will get a clearance certificate at the border where hundreds of drivers are stuck.
“Just at Oldonyosambu area I have already paid Sh30,000 and at Longido I have stayed five days and am still not sure how long I will stay at the Namanga border,” he said.
He wants the government to hold talks with their Kenyan counterpart and come up with a more friendly procedure.
Longido District Commis-sioner Frank Mwaisumbe said he has been informed that the Tanzanian drivers were being tested without the presence of doctors from the Tanzanian side of the border as he called for quick intervention to improve the situation.
He said he has sought audience with leaders from Kajiado Town in Kenya to ease the situation and avoid further inconveniences.
A resident of Namanga, Zainabu Rajab, was sceptical about the testing process, saying the drivers’ continued stay at the border while waiting for results would worsen the situation by spreading the virus.

The Citizen witnessed some of the drivers washing their clothes and preparing food as they waited for their results.