The Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga has tasked government to come up with tougher measures to curb the spread of corona virus by truck drivers crossing into the country.
Through her official social media handles, Hon. Kadaga wrote.. “It’s disturbing to note that a bulk of the new #COVID19 cases are from truck drivers. Ugandans locked in their homes aren’t moving but truck drivers, who are testing positive, are going about normal life,” She said.
Kadaga’s remarks came a few hours before the Ministry of Health announced that cases of COVID-19 infections in Uganda had risen to 160, after 21 truck drivers, who include Ugandans, Kenyans, Rwandans and Tanzanians had tested positive on Wednesday.
However, despite the increase in infections, the Ministry of Health has put in place isolation centres and testing points at all Uganda’s border points to ensure that all truck drivers who test positive for COVID-19 are quickly isolated.
During a sitting of Parliament on Friday, 24 April 2020, legislators were concerned that the high cases of new infections of the virus were being registered in the drivers.
Budama South MP, Hon Jacob Oboth Oboth said the issue of corona virus needed a concrete statement from government especially in regard to the truck drivers.
He added that government has since handled the crisis well with the country recording several recoveries of those that earlier tested positive but the new cases from truck drivers were worrying.
“The border districts are vulnerable to the truck drivers whose inter-personal relations are not-questionable and likely to cause danger to the country,” he said.
Bubulo West MP, Hon Rose Mutonyi said her constituents in Manafwa were demanding that truck drivers from Kenya are first tested at Mombasa before departing for Uganda. He said that this should be a procedure in all the East African Community (EAC) countries.
Speaker Rebecca Kadaga said that the issue of truck drivers had been raised in different parliament sittings.
Finance Minister, Hon Matia Kasaija said government was already in talks over truck drivers crossing over to Uganda. He asked for time to allow government conclude the ongoing cross-border consultations.
Kasaija also revealed that the subject was discussed by the Covid-19 National Task Force.
Uganda has so far registered 160 Covid-19 Cases with only 63 recoveries.
