Arusha regional commissioner now turns the heat on Kenyan drivers over Covid-19 tests

Arusha. Arusha Regional Commissioner, Mr Mrisho Gambo, on Wednesday May 20, 2020 says 19 truck drivers from Tanzania who were found infected with Covid-19 in Kenya turned negative when re-tested in Tanzania.

Mr Gambo issued a statement in which he sought to explain the recent border tiff with Kenya over denial of Tanzanian trackers who tested positive of Covid-19 from entering Kenya through the Namanga boarder.

“Arusha will continue to take pre cautions to prevent Covid-19 infections from spreading through our boarder at Namanga” said Mr Gambo in the statement.

Gambo says on May 12, samples of 44 truck drivers arriving from Kenya sent to the National Health Laboratory Quality Assurance and Training Centre in Dar es Salaam for Covid-19 testing returned 13 positive cases, including 11 cases of Kenyan drivers, a Ugandan and one case whose nationality he withheld. The rest tested negative, said Mr Gambo. 

He said on May 16, samples from 23 drivers tested found 10  Kenyans positive of Covid-19 while the rest were negative. The administrator noted that 11 truckers from Kenya were waiting for results of samples taken on May 18. 

Mr Gambo claims that the denial of Tanzanian drivers entry into Kenya could be tactics to kill the tourism industry in Tanzania when the season resumes in June following the decision by Tanzania to re-open its skies.

Tanzanian officials have so far restricted the entry of Kenyan truckers along the Namanga, Holili, Sirare and Horohoro boarders, citing Covid-19 testing. They have, however, said truckers from other countries were free to enter.

The move came hot in the heels of Kenya government’s closure of its boarders with Tanzania and Somalia over fears that the entry points were turning into hot-spots of infections. Kenya also ordered a 30 days cessation of the movement of pedestrians and passenger vehicles.

On Tuesday, in Dar es Salaam, Kenya’s High Commissioner to Tanzania, Mr Dan Kazungu, appealed for calm and said the two countires would seek to solve the boarder tiff through diplomatic channels. He said he had reached out to Tanzania International Affairs and East Africa Cooperation minister, Prof Palamagamba Kabudi, over the matter. The envoy said Kenya and Tanzania were confronted with a common enemy in the coronavirus pandemic which called for a common front to fight.