Botswana Police Service (BPS) has declined to reveal the costs of escorting haulage trucks that pass through the country.
Police spokesperson, Assistant Commissioner Dipheko Motube, said in an interview that he cannot share the costs of escorting with the media as it is an administrative matter.
Around May this year, the government decided to escort cargo trucks coming into the country to their destinations while those in transit are also escorted to the exit point.
This was after it was established that most of the Covid-19 positive cases involved truck drivers.
The move was meant to ensure that the drivers did not expose others to the virus in the country during stopovers such as visits to the shops and other public areas.
Though it is believed to be a costly exercise, the police are reluctant to reveal how much it costs monthly on the exercise or how much has been spent to date.
Motube has, however, acknowledged that this has caught the police off-guard, and they have had to adjust to cope with the job.
“We are struggling because we are dealing with something that we never expected, but it is not the way someone might think because the government has also put measures in place,” said the police public relations officer.
According to Motube, there has been a decline in other crimes due to lockdowns and the police are using that to channel some of their resources to Covid-19.
He also noted that the ban on alcohol sale has resulted in a decline in liquor associated crimes.
