Uganda: Malaba Traffic Snarl Deepens As Ura Defends Reinstated Cargo Seals

A traffic snarl stretching nearly 35 kilometres into Kenya has crippled operations at the Malaba border crossing, with truck drivers, transporters and clearing agents blaming the Uganda Revenue Authority's (URA) reinstatement of metallic electronic cargo seals for the prolonged delays.

The congestion, which has persisted for the past three days, has transformed one of East Africa's busiest border posts into a major bottleneck, leaving the Ugandan side unusually quiet as only a limited number of trucks manage to cross into the country each day.

Truck drivers say the revised cargo clearance procedure has significantly slowed cross-border movement. Previously, cargo was fitted with an electronic tracking seal at the point of loading. Under the reinstated system, however, every truck is now required to receive an additional metallic electronic seal at the border, increasing processing time for each vehicle.