Ugandan traders frustrated by the Kenya night travel ban
A bus belonging to easycoach a company operating along the Kampala-Nairobi route. The company manager says they have readjusted to fit in the given schedule. PHOTOs BY EMMANUEL AINEBYOONA
What you need to know:
Expensive. The traders say it is now costly to do business in Nairobi because they have to incur additional costs in accommodation which they would dodge previously.
Nairobi.
The cost of doing business has doubled for Ugandan traders using the northern corridor to transport their goods.
A trader travelling from Kampala to Nairobi or Mombasa, now needs more than two days as opposed to one day before the Kenya Transport Ministry slapped a night travel ban on long distance Public Service Vehicles (PSVs).
“It takes a lot of time currently to deliver goods from Nairobi. You fail to deliver on time due to the two days spent in transit,” Ms Sarah Namata, a business woman based in Kampala said.
The night travel ban was introduced in December last year in an effort to curb the ever increasing traffic accidents on Kenyan roads.
However, the ban has left the 24-hour operational border posts of Busia and Malaba irrelevant. A PSV which leaves Kampala for Nairobi at around 11pm will be stopped at the border to wait for dawn to use the Kenyan side.
In a telephone interview with Sunday Monitor, Kampala City Traders Association (Kacita) spokesperson Issa Sekito said: “Although it’s paramount to secure lives, it’s equally important to do business.”
He added that the need to travel at night was a way of saving hotel accommodation money because buses could reach Nairobi around mid-night thus allowing people to go on with their businesses.
But the current arrangement means a traveller will spend a night in Nairobi hence extra costs on accommodation and related expenses. Previously, a trader could spend the night travelling and utilise daytime shopping and dogde lodging costs.
The journey from Kampala to Nairobi by bus takes approximately 12 hours.
Mr Ssekito suggested that traffic police should be deployed at night similar to those working at border posts.
He attributed the road accidents to pure irresponsibility on the side of citizens.
He also said both governments should focus on ensuring good mechanical conditions of the vehicles and the state of mind of the drivers other than banning the travel.
The long distance ban has not only affected traders but owners of PSVs as well. Instead of two trips, bus companies only make one trip to Nairobi.
The Uganda Manager of Mash Bus Services, one of the buses operating on the Kampala-Nairobi route said some staff have been sent on temporary leave following the reduced number of buses going to Nairobi.
Bus operators talked to said the ban had only increased traffic jam and congestion on the major highways in Kenya during the day.
But the manager of easycoach bus company, Mr Nicodemus Muendo, said business has not been affected so much.
“It is a matter of re-adjusting the travel schedule and travellers using their buses have adjusted to the situation,” Mr Muendo said.
Kenya bus owners tried to challenge the ban in court in January but their petition was dismissed.
While addressing a news conference on January 8, the Kenya Transport Cabinet Secretary, Mr Micheal Kamau, denied a ban on night travel, saying that buses will be licenced to operate at night through the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).
“Records from the traffic department indicate that previously most road accidents recorded involving PSVs happened at night,” said Mr Kamau.
According to Mr Kamau, bus companies which meet the requirements are required to pay Sh90, 000 (Ksh3,000) for an application to commute at night. This will be renewable after a year.
The regulations also require long distance bus drivers certified by NTSA and to also take a minimum break of 8 hours before the next shift.
The Kenya Transport Ministry also plans to install speed governors in all PSVs operating in the country. Vehicles will be monitored by the ministry from one Control Centre as a means of regulating the number of errant drivers.
When this paper contacted the commissioner for external trade at the Ugandan Trade Ministry, the office had not received any formal complaint from traders about the Kenya 6pm-to-6am travel ban.
Although the East African Community has been agitating for total elimination of non-tariff barriers along the Kampala-Mombasa routes to enhance cross-border trade, night travel bans for long distance PSVs seem to pose a very big threat to attaining one of the Key objectives of the Customs Unions Protocol.
