Truck drivers decry harassment in South Sudan

Truck drivers and officials from Customs at Elegu border post last week. Photo by Prossy Nandudu

Truck drivers plying the Uganda Juba route are calling on heads of state of the East African community to remind South Sudan of the policy on free movement of goods, services and people under the East African Community.

Their call follows continuous harassment by South Sudan security officials through the many illegal road blocks along the way.

For example, from Elegu/ (Nimule) to Juba, there are 18 road blocks. Out of these, only 6 are legal. At every illegal point, truck drivers have to part with bribes, fuel, food items.

Failure to do so results into torture, shooting, sexual harassment on females, destruction of items among others.

The call was made by truck drivers through their chairman, Byron Kinene in a meeting they convened at the border recently. The meeting followed the shooting of a Kenyan female truck driver at Jebereni, 45 kilometres from Elegu border point.

"We want heads of state to compel South Sudan government to adhere to demands of regional integration, which includes free movement of goods and services, respect of human rights, and humane treatment of residents from all member states," said Kinene.

Late last month, a female Kenyan truck driver was shot at a place called Jebereni 45 kilometers from Juba/Nimule road towards Juba. This promoted a strike that was later in which a total of 250 trucks were packed on the border causing congestions.

Implications on trade
The more truck drivers lose money in transit, the more the consumers suffer, because the cost will be transferred to the final consumer and incomes from exports for Uganda explained Bosco Kaliisa, the South Sudan country director of Trademark East, a multi-donor agency promoting trade by finding solutions to non-tariff barriers (NTBs) to trade like the many road blocks, harassment, among others.

He also warned that every time trucks carrying fuel are packed together with those carrying dried cargo, chances of fire outbreaks are high, which could result into another disaster.

Besides fires, Kaliisa added that the more time trucks spend in the parking yard, the more money they pay as parking fees which drivers already say are too high and want it revised down wards.  Each truck pays $20 dollars every day it spends in the parking yard.