The Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) has written to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and other Ugandan officials to intervene in the compensation of injured drivers.
In the letter dated Thursday, KTA complained that some of the drivers using Kenyan roads to get to Uganda but get into accidents receive less compensation compared to their counterparts in Kenya.
"KTA is calling on the Ugandan government and the legislature to increase the statutory compensation limits in Uganda to reflect the value of human life," stated the association's chairman Newton Wang'oo.
KTA remarked that over 90 per cent of trucks transporting goods and services from Kenya to Uganda are Kenyan.
According to the statutory compensation limits for death or injury per person within the EAC country under the COMESA scheme, Ugandan drivers get Ksh39,342 (USD268) per person and Ksh394,892 (USD2,690) per event.
Meanwhile, their counterparts in Kenya get Ksh3.04 million (USD20,690) per person and Ksh20 million (USD137,931) per event.
KTA complained the discrepancy was disadvantaging the driver who wound up in endless court cases fighting for compensation.
"We wish to draw your attention to an issue that unfairly and adversely affects the lives of Ugandans and Kenya road transporters," the association wrote.
"A person who is injured or killed in Uganda will receive 77 times less compensation than a person who is injured or killed in Kenya," Wang'oo added.
There KTA called upon the Ugandan judiciary to adhere to the statutory limits set in the laws and stop awarding compensation beyond statutory legal limits.
KTA suggested that all COMESA countries should align their statutory compensation limits so that all lives are treated equally.
"This would ensure that people who are injured or killed in accidents, regardless of the country in which, receive fair and just compensation under the COMESA insurance scheme," the chairman stated.
