Article 89 of the Treaty for Establishment of the EAC on Common Transport and Communication Policies stipulates that the Partner States undertake to evolve co-ordinate, harmonized and complementary transport, facilitate and promote the movement of traffic within the community. However, this domain still faces some problems.
<doc6491|left>Heads of Travel Agency by roads operating in EAC and passengers traveling within those travel agencies complain that since they have been integrated in EAC, they hoped that system of transport would improve and get better but, it’s not the case, they say.
According to Bosco Rusegura Vice-Manager of TAQWA Travel Agency which takes the line of Burundi, Dar Es Salam (Tanzania), Zambia, Malawi, etc says that:"Nothing has been changed since Burundi’s integration in the domain of transport. I don’t realize any improvement. No facilities. For our Travel Agency, (the TAQWA Bus) and other cars coming from out of the country, when they enter in territory of Burundi must pay 72 $ to Burundi Revenue Authority (OBR) for each Bus. This is much money”. He adds:"For each luggage, we have to pay a small label worth 5$." Then, we don’t realize how we will get benefit if things will remain like this."
Each passenger who buys and brings for example a pair of cloths for his own child or a bag of rice weighing 25kg for his own food not for a sale must pay for it at the office of OBR at Kobero (Muyinga). This makes people complain. Rusegura goes on saying that, things were good before Burundi’s integration into the East African Community. But now, the situation is getting worse.
Bosco Rusegura adds:" We have various passengers who travel for different purposes. Many of them are people who do activities of trade. Because of this measure taken by the OBR to pay everything coming from outside the country, people prefer to go to Uganda because at least the bus ticket to Uganda is lower than the ticket to Tanzania. The bus ticket for Uganda is 27,000 Burundian francs (BIF) whereas the bus ticket to Tanzania is 70,000 BIF. Consequently, we start to loose our customers and this hampers our services." deplores Bosco.
René Bihizi, head of Belvedere Travel Agency which goes to Rwanda says that he is used to hear moaning from passengers who get troubles when their period of staying expires before their departure, the police from Burundi do not make easy their check in even if they did get a pass from the Embassy. The police take advantage of their ignorance."
Abdoul Nkurunziza who works for Gaga Coach Travel Agency shares his colleagues’ ‘point of view saying:" Nowadays, passengers are in few numbers than before. Before we had more passengers; 2 or 3 buses for each travel agency per day had to go to its destination; but now, at least one has to leave; and sometimes it leaves empty because of the high price of tickets have increased. So, people who do small business are them who undergo this situation."
"Passengers complain"
There is a big issue for passengers who travel from Burundi to EAC member states.
N.O is a passenger who is used to travel from Burundi to Rwanda and vice versa, he says:"I don’t know why I have to make much check in even at the Office of Police located at Siyoni Market in Quartier Industriel. We left at Kanyaru border or Kirundo border already done the check in to the Office of Immigration. So I don’t know why I have to check in once again when arriving at the bus station."
Clarette N. on her side says that:" This process is only done in order to waste our time. It’s also stressful to care about the baggage and at the same time go to check in whereas we have done it before at the border. This case happens only in Burundi." she deplores.
Another case in point concerns the way some drivers do exceed speed limit especially when they are on Burundian territory. Abibu Aminata says:" There are some drivers who during the trip drive so fast and do not respect a highway code. Sometimes they cause driving accidents. This is jeopardy." What makes no sense and surprise us is that when they reach Rwanda, drivers go slowly. Aminata complains in saying that this fault is due to the drivers who do not care about the security of passengers but also, to the Police of Burundi who are not rigorous, strict and who do not take measures to punish those drivers who are caught in those mistakes.
Concerning the issue of complaints of passengers, M. F who is a chief of drivers of Volcano Travel Agency from Rwanda says that:" It is first the mission of the Police to ensure the security on roads and make sure if every movement is done correctly. And for the drivers who exceed the speed limit," F. says:" I can’t deny that there are drivers who exceed speed limit. In this case, if a driver is being denounced by the passengers, we have a way to punish him. Passengers are informed that there is a call number of our Agency mentioned on their ticket and if something bad happens or in any urgent case or additional information that they seek for, they have to call. If a driver is mistaken, we warn him once, twice if he doesn’t change he is temporary suspended or we reduce his wages and we add it to the one who is appreciated for his good job."
As far as the case of being checked in the second time when passengers arrive at the bus station to Siyoni Market, one of the staff of the Police who keeps the anonymity and who works at the Office of the Police located there says that they proceed by doing the last check in for security reasons. "We want to know where they go, their period of stay, the purpose of their visit even if some passengers keep it secret and we want to make sure if they really have valid passports and if they have really checked in at the border ."
