Kayunga woman found ‘seducing’ truck drivers sent into quarantine

Of the 121 confirmed cases, 50 are foreign drivers and 11 Ugandan truck drivers. Of these truck drivers, 30 are Kenyans, 17 are Tanzanians, one Burundian, one Eritrean and one Rwandan. 

Pressuring is growing on government to devise more effective control measures to stop cargo drivers from spreading the disease into the community without interrupting in the flow of goods. 

While the drivers are tested upon entering Ugandan territory, they are left to proceed with their journeys as the ministry of Health and Uganda Revenue Authority teams wait for their results. In case the driver tests positive, they are tracked down for treatment or repatriation back to their countries.

Mwanamoiza says that the task force in Kayunga has cancelled all the major stop centres including Kayonza, Nazigo, Kamuli and created a new centre at Maligita primary school playground in Kangulumira for the long-haul trucks. The aim is to protect residents from getting in contact with drivers.   

“When I sent a delegation here, there was one girl going around vehicles maybe to [seduce] one of you. We took that girl to the isolation centre. We wanted to send a [message] that people should keep social distance. Let the one girl not tempt you, you can get several women even 1,000 when you’re alive. But that single one here can take your life,” she said. 

Tom Sserwanga, the district chairperson warns that the authorities will halt cross-border trucks from stopping in Kayunga if they don’t stop getting in contact with residents at their new parking centre.    

One of the truck drivers from Kenya, Abubaker Oketch said that it is hard for drivers to block women from coming to their centres during this period, instead, he urged the authorities to ensure that residents are further restricted from accessing their zones. 

“It is the worker of leaders to ensure that they don’t access our zones since we are also busy enough to do that work,” Oketch notes.               
The Kayunga deputy chief administrative officer Benson Otim notes that much as the truck drivers are tested and examined at border points, they can also get the disease from the people they associate within the community.