Truck drivers on strike over mandatory Covid testing at Malaba border

Truck drivers plying the Northern Corridor are on a go-slow in protest of the charges of the Covid 19 PCR test which is mandatory upon entry into Uganda.

The tests are mandatory, including for drivers with documents showing they have been tested in Kenya.

Through a statement by the Uganda Ministry of Health dated 1st January 2022, the test which costs Ksh 3,600 is to be taken each time travellers and truck drivers enter the country.

The test according to the Ugandan authorities will be valid for 7 days while they are on transit.

Meanwhile, businesses have been paralysed for the last two days as a result of a traffic snarl-up caused by the go slow.

The traffic jam stretches from Kemasit which is approximately 30 kilometres from the Malaba border.

The truckers claim a plot by Ugandan authorities to make money.