Traders in Busia town have decried over increasing number of trucks on the queue blocking clients from accessing their businesses.
There’s a long queue of empty trucks along Jinja road of about 5 kilometers from the main entrance at Busia one-stop border post and another queue of about 3.5 kilometers along Majanji road in Busia town.
According to the traders, they are no longer selling their goods because of the long queue of empty trucks that have blocked their clients from seeing displayed goods in their shops. The truckers also dump garbage and also even excrete in front of their shops, something that poses risk to their lives as they can easily contract diseases.
They want relevant authorities to identify a particular temporary place for the trucks to be parked.
Yusuf Kirunda, a butcher operating along Jinja road in Busia town says that previously he could sell between 120 to 150 kilograms of beef per day but is currently selling less than 40 kilograms a day because of trucks that blocked the butchery.
Thomas Wabwire, another trader operating an internet cafe along Majanji road says that he nowadays spends almost a full day without getting a client compared to previous days his business could get full with clients on a daily basis.
He has appealed to relevant authorities to identify a place for the trucks to be parked awaiting clearance.
James Thenge, a truck driver says that they don’t have any other alternative for parking because they are told to wait in the line. He says that they are facing the challenge of theft of truck batteries and fuel siphoning by sniffing street children in the area.
Thengi appealed to relevant authorities to fasten the clearing process for them to avoid such challenges.
Collins Radinga, another truck driver says that he came to Busia in fear of another long queue of empty trucks at Malaba border. The slowness in clearing empty trucks from Kenyan side has left them living in hardship.
Emmanuel Uponja, the supervisor Uganda Revenue Authority-URA at Busia one stop border post says that they have deployed enough staff to do the clearance work. But they have a challenge with their counterparts in Kenya who lacks space to accommodate uncleared empty trucks.
-URN
