There are only random cases of Covid-19 at City Hall, says Sonko aide

City Hall has again been hit by Covid-19, with at least 15 MCAs as well as members of staff from both the executive and the county assembly having contracted the virus, says Roysambu MCA Peter Warutere.

This is the second time that the Nairobi county government is experiencing effects of the coronavirus following a similar scare in May.

At that time, an employee in the procurement department and three MCAs who had travelled outside the country tested positive for Covid-19.

Raising the alarm, Mr Warutere, who is also the assembly’s Health committee chairman, said he knows his colleagues who have recently contracted the virus, although he did not name them “as that would be infringing on their rights to privacy”.

The ward representative also said there are a number of county assembly staff who have tested positive for Covid-19.

“Unfortunately, there are both MCAs and assembly staff who have contracted the coronavirus. We sympathise with them and wish them quick recovery,” said Mr Warutere.

Five MCAs

Another MCA said he knows at least five of his counterparts who recently contracted the virus, which has killed 1,300 people in the country.

“I know of five ward representatives who have the virus and are currently self-isolating at home,” he said.

Interestingly, one of the MCAs he mentioned had just posted on social media that she had returned a negative test after days of self-isolation.

On the county executive, a number of staff have also tested positive with reports indicating that two CECs have recently been infected.

One of the staffers from the executive confirmed that some officials working at City Hall had gone for home-based care and others are in isolation after testing positive for the virus.

“Indeed the virus is with us and our very own colleagues have contracted Covid-19,” he said.

Random cases

Reached for comment, Governor Mike Sonko’s spokesperson Ben Mulwa said he only knows of random cases of staff contracting Covid-19 but he is not aware if there are CECs who have been affected.

On his part, County Health CEC Hitan Majevdia, however, said he is yet to get any case of a CEC contracting the virus.

Mr Warutere is now calling on Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura to strictly prohibit all physical meetings within the assembly’s precincts in order to prevent the virus from spreading further, saying that there could be more positive cases at the city assembly.

“It would be in the best interests of all the 122 MCAs and staff that our Speaker closes the assembly, including all physical meetings, in order to help in containment measures,” he said.

Majority Whip Paul Kados said that together with the House leadership, they will liaise on the way forward, noting that they have already prohibited physical meetings of more than 25 MCAs in a single sitting.

Self-isolate

However, he called upon his counterparts who know they are Covid-19 positive to self-isolate as required by the Ministry of Health.

“It is difficult to know the status of all 122 members since not everyone has undergone testing and, even if they have it, not all will reveal their status,” said the Mihang’o MCA.

He said it would be good if all get tested so as to know everyone’s status “but it is a personal decision to reveal the results”.

The assembly has been holding its plenary sittings virtually since June when former speaker Beatrice Elachi suspended physical sessions due to Covid-19.

Only the House leadership, a mover of a motion and a few members are allowed in the chambers during plenary sittings. Committee sittings were also directed to go virtual except for crucial ones like the public accounts committee.

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