The one-stop border post (OSBP) launched in Busia a year ago has rendered many young people jobless and should be reviewed, MPs from Kenya and Uganda have said.
The OSBP was opened on February 25, 2018 by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni.
Its unveiling was meant to speed up clearance of goods moving in the main trade corridor between the two countries.
But the MPs say implementation of the OSBP has rendered thousands of youths jobless leading to a rise in crime on the border.
“In Busia and Malaba, youth working as clearing and forwarding agents have no work to do. I urge the two presidents to sit down and agree on what to be done because as MPs from both sides we have agreed to sit and make the necessary amendments but the executive must be ready to effect the implementation,” Teso North MP Oku Kaunya said.
Ugandan MP Geoffrey Angura (Tororo South) said Kenyan and Ugandan lawmakers will ensure OSBP operations are halted.
“We will relook the protocol to restore employment opportunities to our young people,” Angura said.
The MPs spoke on Monday during the burial of businessman Sande Emolot’s wife Rachel in Tororo district, eastern Uganda.
Uganda’s minister for East African Community Affairs Wandera Muganda said the East Africa Legislative Assembly is reviewing the impact of implementation of the OSBP.
He urged legislators from both countries to present their petitions to the regional assembly within the next three months for consideration.
The OSBP is a regional initiative implemented jointly by Kenya and Uganda and supported by development partners through Trademark East Africa.
By the end of February, Uganda was the biggest buyer of Kenyan goods after making orders worth Sh 61.9 billion.
In the OSBP arrangement, Kenyan and Ugandan officers work together on transit documents to save time.
During its launch last year Uhuru and Museveni urged Kenyans and Ugandans to embrace the investment which they said would improve security, reduce revenue leakages, as well as improve resource utilisation through improved cross-border cooperation and sharing of resources and intelligence.
Busia and Malaba crossing points are among the 13 border posts in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Tanzania which have been converted into single premise entities or OSBPs to facilitate movement of people and goods across the East African Community region.
