Hundreds of Kenyans stranded as govt apologises over quarantine mess

Hundreds of Kenyans were left stranded in Nairobi on Monday as the government began enforcing a mandatory quarantine of all persons entering the country as part of measures to curb the coronavirus spread.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe had announced that those coming into the country beginning Sunday night to Wednesday, March 25 will undergo mandatory quarantine at their own expense.

Speaking to Citizen Digital on condition of anonymity, a Kenyan citizen held at the Kenya School of Government — one of the State’s designated quarantine facilities — revealed that neither safety nor logistical measures had been put in place to facilitate the isolation.

According to our source, as at 5pm on Monday, there were about 400 individuals at the facility and they required to share rooms; some in groups of at least seven people.

Even more, there were no personal protective equipment including adequate sanitizers to ensure high hygiene standards.

The individuals were being transported from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in National Youth Service buses which began picking arriving passengers as from 3am.

Individuals quarantined at the Kenya School of Government had been asked to pay 40 US dollars (Ksh.4,000) per day before the amount was lowered to 20 US dollars per day after the group raised concerns.

Citizen Digital also understands that some of the hotels designated as quarantine facilities are charging as much as Ksh.12,000 per day.

Similar issues were witnessed at the Utalii college where we understand accommodation facilities were inadequate despite hundreds of individuals being moved to the facility for quarantine.

Later on Monday, in a press briefing on the state of the coronavirus in the country, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe acknowledged the logistical challenges and apologised to all the affected individuals, assuring that everything would be set in order.

“I want at this point to issue an apology to the parents and individuals who have been so inconvenienced since last night. We are aware that we had logistical challenges that we encountered as a result of the speed at which we wanted to move into quarantining individuals,” said Kagwe.

The Health CS pleaded with the hotels offering the quarantine services to reduce the charges as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.

“I want to thank those hotels that have already admitted the quarantined people but we are appealing to you… these are people who came to the country without a plan to spend money in a hotel. If your normal charges are Ksh.12,000 in a hotel room you should not be charging more than 50% or 25% of that,” said Mutahi Kagwe.

“So we are urging you to reduce the rate as part of your Corporate Social Responsibility.”

He disclosed that individuals will henceforth be given the option of being quarantined at a hotel or government designated facility after touching down at the airport, adding that more arrivals are expected.

The CS further assured that Ministry of Health officials and security officers will also be deployed to the various quarantine facilities to ensure smooth running of operations at the quarantine centres.

“It is also important to be appraised of the fact that probably none of them is positive. So we don’t want stigmatization who are as healthy as you and I. It is only necessary to test because of exposure,” reiterated the CS.

The quarantined individuals are expected to remain at the various facilities for 14 days.