Billions reaped out of Malaba's rotten truck yard

At one point in 2000, Daily Monitor got permission from the District Commissioner, Teso in Kenya to take pictures of the beautiful Customs yard on the Kenya side to compare with the rotten one on the Ugandan side.

Feeling the shame after the publication of comparative pictures, government used a grant from the European Union (EU) to fix the current beautiful side of the Ugandan yard.
Unfortunately, what was repaired was just a third of the entire yard. And thereafter, government went to sleep and only woke up recently when the truck drivers again went on strike.

It will be recalled that when Mr Museveni was on his way to Nairobi for the IGAD Summit on October 27, drivers confronted him at the border and told him about the state of the yard. He promised to address their concerns on his return.

While in Nairobi, he summoned the Trade and Industry Minister Mukwaya, Works Minister Nasasira, finance ministers and the URA Commissioner General Kagina to meet him in Malaba on October 30.

On arrival from Nairobi, Mr Museveni first visited the yard. He was not amused by what he found.
Ms Kagina presented a budget of Shs8 billion Uganda for fixing the yard in two phases; phase one to involve filling the potholes with rock, draining water-logged patches and compacting with murram. And phase two to involve paving the yard with concrete, lining the drainage, lighting, fencing, installation of water and sanitary facilities and erection of necessary shelters.

The remedial work was to last one month and should have ended by the end of November and the permanent work to follow thereafter. But by December 3 when this report was filed, the remedial work alone was far from completion, casting doubts on when the permanent work would start.