PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NMG
The Port of Mombasa is facing a pile-up of goods as majority of truck drivers are yet to been tested and issued with Covid-19-free certificates, a move that risks derailing movement of goods to the hinterland and neighbouring countries.
Kenya International Freight and Warehousing Association (Kifwa) chairman Roy Mwanthi said the government was only testing 100 drivers per day at the Miritini Health Centre in Mombasa, triggering the cargo pile-up.
“More than 400 trucks pick cargo at the Port of Mombasa on a daily basis but at the moment very few drivers have acquired the Covid-19-free certificates and fewer than 150 trucks are accessing the port,” said Mr Mwanthi.
Port stakeholders have termed the requirement that all cargo crew be tested and issued with a certificate before being allowed into ports and through border points as premature although the number of infected drivers at border points has been a real threat to efforts to slow down the spread of Coronavirus.
CS Macharia had directed that drivers loading cargo at the Mombasa port and the Inland Container Deport (ICD) in Nairobi would have to be tested for Covid-19 and issued with a certificate 48 hours before driving into the loading points.
