Uganda to Conduct Free Covid-19 Test to Ease Busia-Malaba Trucks Traffic

Uganda has committed to conducting free Covid-19 rapid tests at the Kenya-Uganda border points of Busia and Malaba for seven days to clear the truck traffic snarl-up that has disrupted intra-EAC trade on the Northern Transit Corridor. 

This follows a joint multi-sectoral virtual meeting of the Ministers/Cabinet Secretaries responsible for EAC Affairs, Health and Transport convened by the EAC Secretariat. 

Currently, over 4,500 trucks have stalled at the two border posts due to the mandatory Covid-19 testing requirement introduced by Uganda on December 20, 2021. 

The meeting noted that this was a deviation from the 14 days Covid-19 testing period, previously agreed at the regional level and monitored through the Regional Electronic Cargo and Drivers Tracking System (RECDTS). 

The multi-sectoral Ministerial meeting agreed that the Partner States should always notify each other in case of any deviations from the agreed protocols relating to measures against Covid-19.  

“This will mitigate the impact on movement of goods, persons, workers and services across the region,” said Adan Mohamed, Chair of the EAC Council of Ministers and Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of East African Community and Regional Development, Kenya. 

To mitigate the future recurrence of the border traffic impasse, the joint multi-sectoral meeting further directed the Partner States to recognize certificates from accredited/national recognized laboratories with a validity of 14 hours for fully vaccinated truck drivers and 72 hours for unvaccinated truck drivers moving goods across the region.

Further, they agreed that the Partner States should implement the EACPass to fast-track verification of Covid-19 test results. 

“The EACPass is a system that integrates all EAC Partner States’ negative test results for Covid-19 and those vaccinated and can be easily accessed on a mobile phone. It is set to ease the turnaround time at border points,” said EAC Secretary General Hon. (Dr.) Peter Mathuki. 

The 21^st Meeting of the Sectoral Council of Ministers responsible for Health held on December 10, 2021, approved the EACPass as a regional platform to facilitate movement of all travelers in the region and beyond and also directed EAC Partner States to facilitate the implementation and use of the EACPass as a platform for quick verification of Covid-19 test certificates and vaccination status for travelers. 

CS Mohamed said that a follow-up meeting to review the situation will be held on Friday, January 14, 2022, to further deliberate on regional Covid-19 measures to ease the movement of persons and flow of goods in the region. 

Source: Eac.int