Irate truck drivers from Mombasa County took to the street to express their vehement opposition to the Standard Gauge Railway cargo project, which they claim has taken their jobs away from them.
In a protest televised live on Citizen TV on Tuesday, September 30, that the truck drivers took to the streets over discrimination that they say they are facing at the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA).
Kenya Long Distance Truck Drivers Association (KLDTDA) chairman Roman Waema stated that the drivers had waged an all out war on the government after the decision to sideline them.
"There is no day I will tell you that we are going to quit. We will not relent until the government listens to us," he stated.
The truck drivers and companies represented in the protest claimed that they have been forced to close down some branches and fire drivers after the government showed open preference to the SGR over trucks.
The truckers also intimated that their biggest fear was that the SGR would be exclusively used to transfer cargo, in effect rendering their jobs obsolete.
The Daily Nation reported on August, 22, 2019, that a truck driver, Kennedy Bett, spent 28 hours at the Mombasa port after the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) issued a directive to stop cargo forwarding to container freight stations (CFSs).
“I was told that an order had been issued to stop the collection of cargo to CFSs. The truck owner had to intervene to get clearance,” he was quoted.
It is only after cargo has been moved to the CFS that it can be loaded on a truck and moved to its intended destination.
The KLDTDA, responding to the incident, accused the government of withholding information and forcing an overly expensive venture on Kenyans while there were cheaper and more convenient options.
“The government does not want to tell the public the hidden costs of using the SGR to ferry containers. It costs Sh80,000 including VAT to transport a 20-foot container to and from Nairobi using a truck but the SGR costs more than Sh90,000,” he claimed.
They asked the government to involve the truck drivers in the decisions so as to streamline the transport sector.
