Mutahi Kagwe, the Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) on Thursday, June 4, put traffic police officers on the spot over what he termed as questionable conduct, which may have exposed hundreds of Kenyans to COVID-19.
Speaking from Afya House, the CS pointed out how his trips around various parts of the country had led to questions touching on some members of the police force.
“My attention has once again been drawn to cross border truck drivers, in the last few weeks we’ve witnessed a large number of drivers at border testing points test positive.
“Police officers who allow drivers without certificates to pass various roadblocks are going to be held accountable,” he asserted.
He put traffic police officers posted along the Mombasa-Nairobi-Busia route on the spot over truck-drivers who are allowed to move across counties without COVID-19 certificates.
“I don’t understand how undocumented drivers were able to travel from Mombasa to Busia via Nairobi without any cop noticing that they didn’t have COVID-19 certificates.
“Its either they were asleep on the job or they have some system which they use to ensure the truck drivers didn’t face any sort of opposition on their way across the country without documentation,” the CS noted.
He went on to emphasise that all truck drivers need to have a COVID-19 free certificate from a World Health Organization (WHO), recognised health centre.
“‘Ndugamano’ clinic is not authorized to issue COVID-19 certificates” he stated, leading to bursts of laughter from the crowd of journalists who had gathered at the press briefing.
He went on to announce that 124 people had tested positive for COVID-19 over the last 24 hours, bringing the total tally of coronavirus cases in Kenya to 2,340, with 78 fatalities reported to date.
In terms of counties, Mombasa had 40 cases, Nairobi 38, Busia 26 and Kajiado 6. Elgeyo Marakwet County recorded its first case bringing the total number of Counties affected to 36 out of 47.
CS Kagwe was quick to point out that the 26 Busia cases could be traced to truck drivers who had made their way across several counties before getting to the border town.
The National Police Service has been on the spot in the recent past, with various human rights groups as well as the Kenyan online community banding together to condemn some heinous acts committed by some members of the police force.
