By Okong’o Oduya
At least 200 travelers who were crossing to Uganda are now stranded at Busia Kenya Uganda border due to lack of yellow fever certificates. It is alleged that they are now being smuggled into Uganda by brokers through unregistered routes.
According to reliable sources brokers are now smuggling some of the travelers from Kenya into Uganda using illegal routes after receiving money from them. The sources also noted that yellow fever vaccine which was brought from Kisumu yesterday was not enough to vaccinate all the passengers who were stranded since Wednesday.
It is alleged that the brokers have been giving health officers bribe of ksh5, 000 after collecting money from travelers in order to allow buses from Kenya to Uganda to precede to Uganda and beyond.
“It is true drivers are being asked to part with ksh5000 in order to release a bus from Kenya to Uganda .” said Mike Mugisha one of the affected travelers.
Busia Country Director of Public Health , Dr. Ambrose Fwamba warned that all the brokers who will be found smuggling travelers to Uganda illegally using unregistered routes will be arrested and be prosecuted. “We want all travelers to be registered according to the health guidelines because the exercise is for their own benefit and the country .” he noted.
He also confirmed that the vaccines are out of stock adding that arrangements are being done to bring more from Nairobi. The doctor added that no traveler will be allowed to leave or enter into the country without having yellow fever certificate confirming that they have been vaccinated.
Travelers who were interviewed complained of incurring a lot of expenses after being stranded at the border from Monday unexpectedly after the directive on yellow fever disease. “We have incurred a lot of expenses here because some of us were going to do business in Kampala .” Mary Wangare said.
According to Wangare, travelers were being asked to give cash to health officials in order to be vaccinated leaving out those who didn’t have enough money with them.
Kenya has been on high alert since the first case of yellow fever in 25 years was recently confirmed, two out of three suspected cases of yellow fever tested positive after a patient died of the disease in Nairobi.
The Ministry of Health has been on high alert over the disease, urging Kenyans to be on the lookout for symptoms and report any notable cases to their nearest health facility.
According to the ministry, laboratory investigations conducted at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Kemri) tested the patient who died tested positive for yellow fever antibodies and negative for Ebola and Marburg.
Following this, Kenya has been on high alert for yellow fever, increasing surveillance at all entry points especially for people traveling from Angola.
Yellow fever symptoms include severe headache, nausea, vomiting and fatigue, according to the World Health Organization. The disease can enter a toxic phase in some people, leading to organ failure and death.
