Economies are at stake.
The road was so deeply rutted that the asphalt appeared to be mashed down and squeezed out like putty. The road damage may be caused by bad construction, but even the best contractor would be challenged to build a highway that could withstand the severely overloaded trucks that regularly travel East Africa's roads. Transporters said they routinely overload trucks in East Africa, paying off weigh-station clerks who are supposed to be protecting public highways. The company's customers and drivers say Bayusuf is being modest. The humanitarian organizations that contract Bayusuf to carry food aid said his company's trucks often arrived at their destination with twice the legal limit of 35 tons of cargo.