For days now, the country has experienced skyrocketing prices and shortages of fuel following the mandatory Covid-19 testing requirement at the Malaba and Busia border points that took effect on January 1, 2022.
As a result, a total of 4500 trucks have been stuck at the borders causing oil prices such as petrol to increase to over shs.5000 in Kampala, and as much as shs.10,000 in districts like Hoima. The truck traffic is currently stretching about 130 km from Malaba in Busia County to Kakamega in Kenya.
When commenting on this, The Fatboy Show presenter James Onen popularly known as Fatboy who has always held an aggressive stance towards Covid-19 mandates, said that the Government made some policies without thorough assessment of what the potential consequences could be.
“Our Government doesn't think very deeply of the policies they implement and when the dire consequences hit us in the face, they have nothing to do to solve the crisis. We just have to deal with the problem while the Government runs around without a solution,” he said.
He added that the fact that Anthony Fauci, the Medical Advisor of President Joe Biden and the Chief of the Laboratory of Immunoregulation revealed that everyone will catch the Omicron variant, understanding that it’s less lethal, should have made the Government switch to other approaches.
Olive Najjuma, Fatboy’s Co-host, also noted that the disruptions were brought about by the mandatory $30 Covid-19 testing fee that the truck drivers protested against.
Fatboy further said that the mandate is not only affecting the drivers who have to dig in their pockets but also the economy.
“Not only is this unfair to the truck drivers but now it’s also having an effect on the economy and once the price of fuel goes up, the price of everything goes up because you're disrupting the supply chain. Everyone will have to increase their products to compensate for the costs of the hiked fuel which is something the Government didn't give much thought to,” he complained.
However, he was hopeful that after the full re-opening of the country, the mandates would be lifted as the country returns back to normal.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.
Comments