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| Cross-border cargo trucks from Tanzania at Rusumo border post last week. Tanzanian drivers reportedly staged a protest at a place called Benako on Monday, April 4. |
Tanzanian truck drivers
earlier on Monday May 4, attacked their Rwandan counterparts in protest of the
relay trucking system, which was introduced by Rwanda as part of the efforts to
curb the coronavirus pandemic.
The relay system meant that
Tanzanian drivers would swap with local drivers at the border, a move that has
been contested by some Tanzanian cargo transporters.
As a result, Tanzanian drivers reportedly staged a
protest on Monday morning at a place called Benako – about 20 kilometres away
from the Rwandan border of Rusumo.
In a series of videos circulating on social media,
Tanzanian drivers are seen blocking trucks from either side of Rwanda and
Tanzania, shouting at Rwandan drivers and pelting their cargo trucks with
stones.
Robert Bafakulera, the Chairperson of the Private
Sector Federation (PSF) told The New Times that the standoff is a result of the
recent rules Rwanda put in place to manage truck drivers.
“I think it’s because Tanzanians didn’t want to
comply (with the new rules) or it was very early for people to understand the
system, so they found it difficult to swap their trucks to Rwandan drivers,” he
said.
The latest guidelines contested by Tanzania, among
others, direct truck drivers to swap trucks upon reaching the Rusumo border in
Kirehe district where the government has set up a temporary customs clearing site.
This is because recent coronavirus cases registered in Rwanda were linked
to truck drivers and their assistants, who interact with a lot of communities.
To manage the drivers, the government made it
mandatory for all truck drivers from Tanzania to be tested at borders, and
those transporting cargo to deliver it to Inland Cargo Depots at Kiyanzi site
in Kirehe.
Fred Seka, the President of the Federation of East
Africa Freight Forwarders (FEAFFA), condemned the attacks, saying it is not
based on the agreement that truck drivers in the region adopted on March 1.
“We spoke to associations of truck drivers and
owners from the region and we showed them how this (the system of swapping
drivers) is the only and most effective way to contain coronavirus. The attacks
are against what we agreed on,” he said.
By press time, the federation had not made any
formal communication with truck drivers and owners in the region about the
latest incident, but Seka told this paper that he was trying to reach out to
them.
“I am trying to speak to the associations and truck
owners from Tanzania to cool down their drivers, because this is likely to
cause damage, delays or even spread COVID-19 and complicate the social
relationship of drivers from both sides,” he noted.
Last week on Friday, road transporters and freight
forwarders associations from Tanzania and Kenya held a meeting with FEAFFA,
which recommended East African Community partner states to have a harmonized
approach on management of drivers during the COVID-19 period.
The associations asked member states to consider
testing truck drivers at the start of their journeys or at designated
facilities along the corridors to facilitate easy passage through borders.
Edward John Urio, the President of Tanzania Freight
Forwarders Association noted that the meeting between transporters had sought
to engage countries, which he insisted that they have been “silent” about the
whole issue.
“The issue here is that Tanzanian drivers are not
allowed to go to Rwanda and are quarantined for 14 days, while Rwandan drivers
are moving in freely without being quarantined,” he said.
“Apparently on this issue, our governments have
been so silent. We have sent proposals to them but nothing,” he added.
Among the challenges of the relay driving system
put forward by the transport and freight industry include the fact that it is
hard to acquire competent truck drivers across borders due to lack of a
harmonized Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) professional driver training.
This, they said, poses road safety and asset
integrity challenges.
They also indicated that the move was likely to
eliminate the majority of the transporters (the small and medium sized
transporters) that are unlikely to mobilise the requisite capacity to operate
across borders.
This is in addition to difficulty in handling
insurance claims related to the cargo and the trucks in case of any
eventuality, uncertainty on the safety of the cargo, the trucks as well as fuel
due to the involvement of multiple drivers.
However, Bafakulera argued that the decision was
the only effective way that any government committed to address the pandemic in
such a critical period would take.
He told this paper that he had spoken to Elias
Lukumay, the vice chairman of Tanzania Truck Owners Association (TATOA) and a
few truck owners, some of whom understand the magnitude and the importance of
such a move.
“Some truck owners understand it and some don’t
understand it,” he said.
Bafakulera added that they have proposed a different approach, which is asking cargo owners and transporters to enter new contractual obligations that directs drivers to only deliver goods at the Rusumo border and return home.
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