The parliamentary committee on trade tourism and industry spent part of Friday inspecting the piled-up trucks on both Uganda and Kenya sides at Busia border.
The committee also wanted to ascertain the quantity of fuel entering the country through the Busia border due to fuel shortage that has prompted hiking of fuel price and other commodities in the country.
There’s a long queue of trucks loaded with fuel and other goods for over 45 kilometers from Busia County to Bungoma in Kenya and another queue of empty trucks for over 10 kilometers on Uganda’s side, all waiting to be cleared at Busia one-stop border post.
Julius Nkwasire Mponooka, a URA assistant commissioner told the committee that as the tax body they don’t expect fuel shortage in the country because there’s an increased supply of fuel in the country compared to previous months.
He says that they currently clear over 800 trucks and a total of 2,951 fuel trucks that specifically bring fuel into Uganda. According to Mponooka, each truck carries between 33,000 to 37,000 liters of fuel and they do not expect a fuel crisis in the country.
Mwine Mpaka, the chairperson parliamentary committee on trade, tourism and industry says that they want Uganda Revenue Authority-URA to explain the reasons for the shortage of fuel yet there are many trucks bringing fuel into the country.
Atukwasa Rita Bwatika, the woman M.P for Mbarara city says that there is need for both Kenya Revenue Authority-KRA and URA to increase the speed of clearing the trucks to pave way for other road users.
Godfrey Were Odero, the M.P Samia Bugwe south says that they want government to open additional border points in the area at Amungura in Buteba sub-county and Mulwanda in Lumino sub-county to reduce the piled up trucks at the main entry point of the country saying the area is at risk perishing into ash in case a fuel truck catches fire accidentally.
Francis Mwijukye, the M.P for Buhwenju County says that they were surprised that the country is getting enough fuel but there is still a crisis.
The MPs thus want to investigate companies that supply fuel in the country to ascertain whether they hold fuel with the intention of hiking prices to make profit in the country.
