Author(s)

Lydiah Wamocha¹, Joseph Nasongo², Juddy Achoka¹, Knight Tundo³, Pamela Buhere¹, Angeline Savala⁴

¹Department of Educational Planning and Management, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kakamega, Kenya.
²Department of Educational Foundations, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kakamega, Kenya.
³Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kakamega, Kenya.
⁴Department of Social Sciences, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kakamega, Kenya.

By March 2020, the pandemic had spread to both developed and third world countries. These countries reported multiple cases of the virus within their borders, and deaths related to the virus. This study sought to establish the economic challenges that compromise the war against COVID-19 among border communities in Busia County. The study was conducted in the two major border points comprising Busia and Malaba towns. In Busia town, the study was carried out in the entire Matayos and Nambale sub counties, while in Malaba town the study was conducted in Teso South and Teso North Sub Counties. The respondents included motor bike riders and small scale traders in the identified Sub Counties. Stratified and simple random sampling methods were used to select a representative sample of the population with the aid of lists of registered members of the motor bike riders and small scale traders. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. Questionnaires and interview guide were used to collect data from the respondents. In the analysis done, the respondents to the questionnaires included the small scale traders and motor bike riders. It was established that the poverty levels had risen even higher than usual and a number of them could not make ends meet. Daily income for small scale traders had reduced drastically and some had closed part of their business due to lack of customers. This is because of government stringent measures, such as: curfews ban on cross-border trade and social distancing which affected business activities. The small scale traders did not receive any support from the government or well-wishers to revamp their business.

Challenges, Corona Virus, Economic, Pandemic, Resilience, Small Scale Traders

Wamocha, L. , Nasongo, J. , Achoka, J. , Tundo, K. , Buhere, P. and Savala, A. (2022) Economic Challenges Compromising Resilience to the War against COVID-19 among Border Communities in Busia County, Kenya. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 10, 317-326. doi: 10.4236/jss.2022.104023.