KEY POINTS
- Bars will reduce their capacity by half when they reopen to allow the implementation by half.
- President Kenyatta ordered the bar owner and the ministry of health to come with guidelines for the reopening of bars.
Bars have agreed to reduce sitting capacity by half under social distance guidelines and contact free-bill payment after the President directed the creation of rules and guidelines for sit-down drinking in social places.
Pus and Restaurant Association of Kenya (Perak) said their members will ban drinking at the counter and some will enforce the use of protection screens in efforts to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Last week President Uhuru asked bar owners and the Ministry of Health to come up with guidelines that would promote social distance and hygiene in the move to strike a balance between promoting the hospitality industry and curbing the spread of coronavirus.
Bars were ordered to shut down on March 25 and in July the government banned restaurants from selling alcohol to curb the spread of the virus.
“We are happy with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s proposal as we are ready to meet MOH guidelines in support of the self-regulation mechanism where the sitting arrangement in every pub will be redesigned to accommodate two people per table and a meter apart,” Perak director Michael Muthamia said.
“All our members have also been informed that pubs and restaurants hold up to 50 percent of their usual capacity where social distancing will be observed at all times,” he added.
Since the government banned the sale of alcohol the bar business has seriously suffered prompting firms like East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) to register a 39 percent drop in net profit to Sh7 billion for the financial year ended June 2020.
Perak copy what pubs in the UK did when they reopened on July 4 by reconfiguring seating, canceling live acts, and staggering arrivals.
A two-year planned dubbed “Raising the Bar” is part of the Sh10.6 billion kitty that will be distributed to various markets through EABL’s parent firm, Diageo.
The East African Brewers said the recovery plan will provide targeted support like buying equipment like permanent sanitizer dispenser units, masks, hygiene kits, and protection screens for bars that cannot maintain the one-meter rule.
The firm will give the bars cash but will officer them hardware through the recovery plan that will be a free grant.
Related: Gen Badi to personally enforce order on closure on bars
