Sonko Rescue Team (SRT) was banned by both Nairobi and Central Government from distributing foods to residents because of the imposed dusk to dawn curfew.
“We wish to notify the general public that we have been banned from distributing foodstuffs to the needy”, the Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko wrote on 7th April 2020 in a tweet that seemed now to have been deleted.
Residents of Machakos wrote to KenyanBulletin.com later questioning how the Sonko Rescue Team had come to Machakos yet there was a lockdown.
“All these people of Sonko Rescue team came from Nairobi to Machakos to give food yet the county was on lockdown. Where did they pass? Have they been tested for Covid-19 and the same team has been going round in Nairobi to do the same. Did they defy CS KAGWE directive?”, a resident wrote
Two Mondays ago, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the ban on movements from and into Nairobi Metropolitan Area, Kilifi, Mombasa and Kwale Counties.
Some keen Machakos residents stated that they observed a convoy of ambulances coming in in the dead of the night.
“They (Sonko Rescue Team) used ambulances to avoid detection of their mission”, one wrote.
Another pondered, “Is Gov Mutua of control of Machakos County….this is clear violations of the lockdown”, he stated.
Coronavirus
There have been 197 confirmed cases of coronavirus infections in the country, 33 cases have been closed with 25 recoveries and 8 fatalities.
The worldwide infection nears two million. The most ravaged states ar USA, Spain and Italy. Active cases of the virus have risen to 1.3 million, with 1.2 million being mild. Over 50,000 patients are in critical condition.
The death toll has surpassed 114,000.
Government of Kenya efforts
After a scuffle which led to the death of two or more people in Kibra during a food distribution exercise, the government asked Kenyans to channel their donations to the Kenya Covid-19 Fund.
Some Kenyans have expressed distrust with the government concerning the fund stating that if they couldn’t be trusted with public money in the 7 years f leadership, how can they not be trusted with coronavirus money that they are asking Kenyans to contribute.
“Don’t trust these crooks with your donations. They steal from pregnant women and the sick. They won’t fail to steal from you”, a blogger wrote then deleted the tweet
The govt has received billions in the war against Covid-19, a total of Sh22 billion, yet many are yet to feel the impact of it on the ground.
Sonko Rescue Team is now in Machakos, untested for Covid-19, moving house to house distributing foodstuff.
The National Covid-19 Fund, Kenyan Bulletin agrees should have all well-wishers registered by it and those well-wishers movements should be monitored.
Many Kenyans have expressed fears about their relatives in the rural areas catching the disease. The debate has become heated after a Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) staff in SIaya County was hurriedly buried in the dead of the night.
The dead, the 59 – year old Mr James Oyugi Onyango had been involved in an accident in Awasi on the Kericho-Kisumu road while travelling home before the lockdown was announced.
On April 10 at 10am, Onyango started coughing and was rushed to Matibabu Foundation Hospital where he was attended to by nine medical staff.
He died at 7pm on the same day. The results came back after his death from the Centre for Global Health Research Kemri labs in Kisumu. He had tested positive.
Many doubt the story and point fingers to the corruption at KPA.
Kenyans are calling on the govt to exhume the body and rebury it decently.
Siaya Senator James Orengo wrote, “COVID-19 has struck Siaya like meteor. Witnessed an undignified burial in the dead of night as surreal as mass graves in NY & military funeral convoys in Lombardy. We’re confronted with unprecedented challenges. Let’s not forget our humanity even in the midst of tragedy. Pole jodala”.
