Uhuru hands governors more powers in battle against virus

President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday handed county governments sweeping powers to enforce Covid-19 control measures, making the devolved units the new focal points in the fight against the deadly pandemic.

Governors will now have the powers, in consultation with the national government, to impose county-level lockdowns in cases where they deem the measure necessary.

A new enforcement unit comprising of national police and county askaris will ensure compliance with Covid-19 health protocols in towns, markets and county government offices. 

After a day-long meeting with governors, the president pushed the ball back to their court, arguing no state has the capacity to “police all its citizens.”

“Since the relaxation of the containment measures, there has been laxity in the enforcement of the existing protocols especially in the transport, entertainment, trade and tourism sectors,” said Council of Governors chairman Wycliffe Oparanya. 

President Kenyatta directed the Ministry of Interior to constitute a Special Enforcement Unit made up of the National Police Service, National Government Administration Officers and supplemented by the county government inspectorate units to jointly enforce compliance to Covid-19 protocols. 

With the country witnessing a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, county governments are concerned that their health facilities could be overrun, unless the tide is turned soon.

Bed occupancy in hospitals had gone down by 60 percent and the infection curve flattened to below 5 percent by the time the economy was re-opened last month.

“But 38 days later, we have experienced a reversal... The occupancy has now gone up by 140 percent during the 38 days of easing Covid measures,” President Kenyatta said in a live address to the nation.

“We are heading to breaking point because as it is things are raging out of control and we are not able to transfer patients even from one county to another,” observed the COG chair, Mr Oparanya.

“It is an acute crisis that many patients are losing the battle en route to Nairobi to seek treatment,” he added.

Existing regulations

Both levels of government however admitted that part of the reason why the country is witnessing an upsurge is the lack of enforcement of existing regulations.

The enforcement of health and security restrictions is a shared function between the national government through the police and county governments through their inspectorate departments.

Without enough policing capacity, county governments are unable to effectively enforce restrictions in business premises within their jurisdictions. The police too have been largely corrupt and have used the restrictions to make money instead of enforcing the law.

Bars and nightclubs have, for example, not been enforcing curfew and social distancing rules, matatus carry passengers at full capacity and there have been no road blocks during curfew hours.

All these violations of the law, plus the fact that political events have been going on, have greatly contributed to the sharp rise in infections. But with the economy facing a recession, President Kenyatta shied away from instituting a lockdown.

Instead, he ordered the Ministry of Interior to supplement county inspectorate units with police officers who will ensure compliance with Covid-19 protocols.

He also banned political rallies and added two hours to the current curfew, which will now start at 10pm and end at 4am until January 3 next year. This effectively means that Kenyans will celebrate New Year in the confines of their homes.

With political rallies restricted to social halls where numbers can be controlled, politicians are set to be the biggest losers of the fresh restriction measures.

Deputy President William Ruto has been popularising his 2022 presidential ambition while opposition leader Raila Odinga has been pushing the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI).

“Anyone wishing to hold such meetings should do so in town halls and must observe all Covid protocols, including limiting the attendees to one-third seating capacity of the hall,” he said, while directing all Cabinet Secretaries, Chief Administrative Secretaries and Principal Secretaries to scale-down all in-person engagements and opt for virtual tools.

The President said those counties that report an upsurge of Covid-19 cases might be put on targeted lockdowns: “The national government will consult with the affected county to issue localised lockdowns and movement restrictions as may be necessary.” 

“County governments are to maintain isolation facilities in a state of preparedness through continuous capacity building for healthcare workers, provision of adequate PPEs for healthcare workers and continuous implementation of infection prevention and control measures and provision of portable oxygen,” said the President.

He also directed public officers aged above 58 years or those who have compromised immunities to work remotely. 

The President is 59 years old, and will be among those exempted from this restriction as they perform “critical” State functions. More importantly though, there has been lack of enforcement of the laws meant to fight the spread of Covid-19 which were in existence before yesterday’s new restrictions.

New regulations

The big question now is how the government will enforce the new regulations, with a big chunk of the population already fatigued and disenfranchised from watching leaders break the same laws they have created but expect the public to follow.

In addition to the new restrictions, the President also put on hold the resumption of learning for non-candidate classes, which had been put on hold, pushing it back to January 2021. 

With a general expectation that he would close down schools given the surge in infections amongst learners, tutors and administrative staff, President Kenyatta instead directed that they continue with their learning and examination preparations “under heightened health safety measures; 

He further directed Members of Parliament to engage their respective NG-CDF Boards with a view to finding ways to augment the existing interventions that are geared towards reopening. 

“To foster the State’s preparedness towards the reopening of all other classes in our learning institutions, I urge them to make investments that focus on additional hand washing points, face masks, general sanitation and physical distancing of students and teachers,” he said.

Churches, hotels, bars and restaurants were however spared in the new restrictions but told to enforce the current rules on their own. But as a result of an increase in curfew hours all bars, restaurants and other establishments open to the public must now close by 9.00 pm.

“The directions governing religious gatherings remain unchanged: any indoor religious gathering other than for the purpose of a wedding or funeral shall have no more than one-third of its normal seating capacity occupied at a given sitting,” said the President.

“I further urge all operators of hotels, restaurants, eateries, bars and establishments that sell alcohol on wholesale or retail terms to do all that is necessary to ensure enhanced compliance with the Ministry of Health’s Guidelines and Protocols,” he added.