Majority of Nairobis low income earners want curfew, travel restriction to continue report

Even as Kenyans anxiously await President Uhuru Kenyatta’s announcement on the COVID-19 regulations, 79% of them reportedly want the curfew to remain but with reduced hours to enable them continue improving their livelihoods.

This is according to a report by TIFA Research released on Sunday which sampled the perspectives of Nairobi’s low income earners living in Huruma, Kibera, Mathare, Korogocho, Mukuru kwa Njenga, and Kawangware.

The vast majority of respondents – 84% – accept the government’s justification for the curfew as a necessary measure to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, though a significant minority – 12% – say they do not know the reason for it even as another 2% opine that it is in place to reduce crime.

Seventy four per cent of the respondents indicated that the curfew has had a negative impact on daily earnings, with another 63% saying the measure has seen police officers use excessive force to enforce.

About half of all respondents – 49%, most of them women than men – claimed there is complete obedience to the curfew in their locality while 5% admitted that there is no compliance at all where they reside.

A majority 86% of the respondents further stated that they want the travel restrictions in and out of the Nairobi Metropolitan area to remain in place as well.