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{
    "id": 993959,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/993959/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 53,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker. I rise to seek a Statement under Standing Order 48(1). However, as a background, I want to acknowledge and thank the Chair of the Committee on Roads and Transportation, the Senator for Kiambu County because about six months ago, I brought a similar Statement here and the Chair and his team visited Malaba Border and invited me to join them. They prepared a comprehensive report and brought it to the House. Madam Temporary Speaker, that report has not been implemented and no action has been taken. The Statement I am seeking from his Committee once again - I believe that you will probably be as efficient, if not more efficient than the last time - is about Malaba Border again. Madam Temporary Speaker, Malaba Border is the second busiest border crossing in Africa. This is documented, and the Chairman knows this. It serves the countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Northern Zambia, DRC Congo, Central Africa, South Sudan and sometimes, up to Cameroon. Madam Temporary Speaker, as we speak, the Statement I am seeking is about the pile-up of traffic. The Chairman of the Committee may need to know that when he visited Malaba, the traffic snarl-up was 13 kilometers long. I thank the distinguished Senator for Migori County who joined me in prosecuting that issue because he had seen this problem. As we speak now, the snarl-up of traffic is 38 to 40 kilometers. From Malaba Border, the trucks are extending up to way past Bungoma Town, midway to Webuye. Some of these trucks are carrying hazardous cargo and inflammable cargo. What is even worse is that there are no facilities for the drivers along this road. There are no toilets. There is no water. There are no hotels open for them to use and they are all stuck on the road. Madam Temporary Speaker, in the Statement, I want to urge the Chairman to expeditiously move, and if possible, get the CS out of his office and take him to Malaba to see. The Government has said that they want truck drivers along this traffic transfer routes to be tested for COVID-19 before they get into Uganda, so that Uganda does not continue harassing them but you cannot go and start testing them at Malaba. How will somebody who is at the tail end of a 38 to 40 kilometers queue to be tested? This is business that Kenya depends on for our economy. When a truck stays on the road for three weeks, the owner of the goods is losing, the Government is losing The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}