Malaba and Busia border posts on the Uganda and Kenya border

How a one stop border post works

An OSBP brings immigration and customs officials of two neighbouring countries together at one point. Trucks and travellers then clear once and not twice ⁷.

Section 12 of the EAC One Stop Border Posts Act, 2016 sets the order of controls. Exit formalities come first. Officers of the entry state may not start their controls until the exit state has finished, marked by a final stamp or an electronic release ².

The Act was assented to on 1 December 2015 and published in the EAC Gazette of 15 April 2016. It takes effect on a date the EAC Council sets by notice ².

Busia

The Busia OSBP was launched in Busia on 24 February 2018 by President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. EAC Secretary General Liberat Mfumukeko attended ¹.

The UK gave US$11.7 million through DFID for construction. Global Affairs Canada gave about US$1.2 million for systems and other soft infrastructure ¹. The works included office buildings, parking yards, cargo verification bays, a scanner shed, passenger sheds, a warehouse and ICT networks ¹.

A TradeMark East Africa time and traffic survey counted 3,324 vehicles a week at Busia in Kenya and 1,784 at Busia in Uganda. The EAC said surveys after operations began in early 2018 showed an 84 percent cut in average crossing time ¹. It described Busia as the border with the largest number of informal cross border traders in the EAC ¹.

Malaba

EAC Secretary General Liberat Mfumukeko said in February 2018 that the first OSBP operations in the region took place at Malaba railway station between Uganda and Kenya, more than ten years before ¹. TradeMark East Africa lists Malaba among 15 OSBPs it has supported since 2010 ¹.

A Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) article on the opening of the Mpondwe post names Malaba and Busia among the OSBPs that came before it ⁴. URA Commissioner General John Musinguzi said OSBPs bring all government agencies together ⁴.

Vehicles entering at the Malaba and Mutukula OSBPs are fitted with digital number plates in about three hours. The Ministry of Works and Transport gave this figure to Parliament, as reported by Michael Agaba on 30 September 2026 ⁶.

What the Auditor General found

The Auditor General's 2023 special value for money audit on cross border trade was reported by Busein Samilu on 28 June 2024 ⁵. It rated Malaba OSBP among consistently efficient customs stations. It rated Busia OSBP among consistently inefficient stations ⁵.

The audit found mis-declarations, concealment of country of origin, undervaluation, smuggling and weak verification. URA bought and installed 39 non-intrusive scanners worth Shs47.9b at 39 border posts in FY2021/22 and FY2022/23. X-ray machines were installed at Busia, Malaba, Mutukula, Mirama Hills and Elegu ⁵.

URA public and corporate affairs manager Robert Kalumba said the audit "identified several areas of improvement". URA listed staff redeployment, client risk bands, checks on high-risk cargo from Kenya before it leaves the factory, and progressive penalties ⁵.

Other crossings with Kenya

The URA article on Mpondwe lists Lwakhakha as an OSBP already in service. It says the Suam River post in Bukwo was under construction ⁴. The sources read for this page do not give official opening hours for Malaba or Busia ⁴.