Time to assess curfew impact on coronavirus battle
Police officers enforce the dusk-to-dawn nationwide curfew in the war against coronavirus, in Mtwapa, Kilifi County, April 9, 2020. PHOTO | LABAN WALLOGA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- President Kenyatta on Thursday warned government officers against helping Kenyans violate the curfew order.
- At least 30 officers from the Kenya Police and Kenya Defence Forces have been arrested for drinking in social places during curfew hours.
Kenya is Friday entering the last week of the month-long dusk-to-dawn curfew with varying results.
Sources have told the Nation that the Cabinet will next Thursday meet to assess the gains made and challenges observed during the curfew, which may lead to an easing of movement restrictions or the announcement of tougher measures.
In addition to the countrywide curfew, the Nairobi Metropolitan Area and three Coast counties are currently under a containment order announced last week. This order could, too, be up for review next week.
"This order shall apply during the hours between seven o'clock in the evening and five o'clock in the morning with effect from March 27, 2020, and shall remain in effect for a period of thirty days thereof," the curfew notice in the Kenya Gazette reads.
And while the jury is still out on whether the country would be in a worse situation in terms of infections and deaths had the strict measures announced last month not been made, the fact that the disease has spread to half the counties is a bad place to be in.
On the day President Uhuru Kenyatta decided to restrict people to their houses at night, Kenya had 28 confirmed cases. By Thursday, the numbers had risen by more than 700 per cent to 234.
OFFICERS WARNED
Already, the Law Society of Kenya is in court seeking an alternative order directing the Interior ministry to extend the start of the curfew from 7pm to 10pm.
“The curfew poses a great and imminent danger to the general health and safety of Kenyans, particularly the poor and vulnerable members of the society as it is disproportionate and draconian in a free and democratic society,” LSK argues.
Additionally, Muslim clerics and some Coast leaders on Thursday asked for the curfew hours to be reduced during the holy month of Ramadhan, which starts on Thursday next week. This request is set to be reviewed when the Cabinet meets.
However, figures provided to the Nation by the Maj-Gen Ayub Matiiri-led National Multi-Agency Command Centre on Covid-19 based in Embakasi, Nairobi, show that while Kenyans have largely respected the curfew rules, an increasing number of people are getting arrested for violations.
President Kenyatta on Thursday warned government officers against helping Kenyans violate the curfew order.
“We salute law enforcement officers. However, every time a regulation is breached with the assistance of a government officer, it risks the lives of Kenyans. Any officer who breaches his duty to implement measures in the pandemic will be met with the harshest sanction,” the Head of State said.
BAD APPLES
In the last two weeks, at least 30 officers from the Kenya Police and Kenya Defence Forces have been arrested for drinking in social places during curfew hours.
In the most recent high-profile incident of police indiscipline, a senior officer attached to President Kenyatta’s security detail got into a scuffle with police officers manning a roadblock at Embakasi on Sunday night.
The officer, who was drunk, was disarmed and taken to the Embakasi Police Station. However before being booked, interventions were made “from above” and he was released.
Last Wednesday, three KDF officers and a Kenya Airforce officer were arrested for drinking in a bar within Embakasi. They were handed over to the Military Police and are expected to be court-martialled.
