Goods worth millions of shillings could go to waste following an impasse involving truck drivers and Kenha at the Gilgil weighbridge.
For the last two weeks, foreign truck drivers and their cargo have been detained, raising fears of a diplomatic row between Kenya and its neighbours.
The drivers from Uganda, Congo and South Sudan have already incurred heavy losses as the deadlock intensifies.
At the centre of the dispute is the size and weight of the trailers, with the Kenya National Highways Authority terming them unfit for road use.
A clearing agent Dennis Omusule said some of the detained trailers are ferrying medical equipment and drugs worth millions of shillings.
He said the trailers had been operational for more than ten years and questioned the timing of the arrest.
“If Kenya does not want such big trailers, then they should not allow them through the border point, instead of this harassment,” Omusule said.
The agent who had travelled from Busia to Gilgil said the drivers are undergoing untold suffering due to the current impasse.
“We are calling on the Ministry of Transport to intervene and end this stalemate by Kenha officials,” he said.
One of the drivers Awer Mwanje said only foreign trailers are targeted in the ongoing crackdown of long vehicles.
He said during the continued incarceration at the weighbridge, one of the drivers had been attacked by security officers.
Mwanje said they have all the legal documents to ferry goods into the country and wondered why the continued harassment.
“We have passed through many weighbridges from Mombasa and we are wondering why the arrest and harassment in Gilgil,” he said.
Another driver Tom Waliemba said Kenya is a member of the East Africa Community yet foreign drivers are being unfairly targeted.
He said the long trailers are accepted in other countries adding that if banned in Kenya, they should not be allowed to enter at the border.
“We have paid the road toll, COMESA fee and other charges as required by the Kenya government but we are still being harassed,” Waliemba said.
Speaking on phone, a senior Kenha official who declined to be named said the long trucks were banned in the country for carrying excess weight.
“Some of these trailers are responsible for damaging our roads and that is the reason they have been detained,” the officer said.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
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