Update: President Uhuru Kenyatta declined to suspend flights from China after a Chinese plane with 239 passengers on board was cleared to land at the JKIA airport on Wednesday, February 26. The Ministry of Health under outgoing CS Sicily Kariuki directed them to quarantine themselves.
As Kenyans cry out on the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19) upsurge, only one name has been on their lips, President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The Presidents' silence as fear of the potential virus outbreak intensify has puzzled many Kenyans. Responses from a number of Cabinet Secretaries and the Chinese Embassy has done little to convince the nation that the disease can be contained, especially.
On Thursday, February 28, Senators grilled Foreign Affairs CS Raychelle Omamo over the Chinese plane saga, as the coronavirus debate heated up nationally, with Kenyans increasingly becoming more concerned of the disease rather than the government's pet project, BBI rallies underway.
"This is actually a national emergency. Can you declare an emergency? Quarantine the airport and any other place these people use to come in. This is no longer a matter for Health alone. I am going to propose that you summon the Interior CS (Fred Matiang'i) alongside the Health CS, Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo Jnr rallied his colleagues.
Health CS Kariuki who is set to be replaced by Mutahi Kagwe following Kenyatta's cabinet reshuffle in January 2020, has maintained a low-key approach in the debate, with her docket only issuing periodic statements.
The self-quarantine directive issued to Chinese landing in Kenya by the Ministry of Health has irked Kenyans who poked holes into the docket arguing that if it has been unable to handle the local diseases, what of the global virus which has led to the death of over 2000 people.
"We have to take this matter very seriously. Self-quarantine cannot give you a 100 per cent guarantee,” Kiprop Mishra (Kesses MP), urged.
“We are grappling with malaria more than 50 years after independence? What about coronavirus?” Dido Raso (Saku MP) wondered.
The legislators further wondered why the government was allowing Chinese nationals to enter the country, yet had taken a step back in bringing home Kenyan students stuck in China, despite numerous pleas by the student's families.
“I don’t have the capacity and knowledge to go into the intricacies of the disease,” was all Omamo could say.
"We have not prevented any person coming from any country from coming to Kenya. So you have no basis of stopping (an) aircraft which is licensed from coming to Kenya. You see, if we stop the flights from coming here, what will happen to Kenyans who are actually in China? Because there are still Kenyans who are coming back home. So you cannot actually stop flights from coming here," Transport CS, James Macharia responded to The Standard.
The Chinese Embassy on Thursday evening, February 27, warned citizens against making racist remarks towards the Chinese Nationals amidst the dreaded coronavirus disease (COVID-19) scare. In a statement issued on their social media platforms, the embassy called upon Kenyans to be more rational when expressing sentiments about the Chinese Nationals.
"We call upon a rational and scientific approach towards Chinese communities, firmly object any irresponsible and even racist remarks as seen from one of the MPs today," read a statement posted on the embassy's Twitter page.
A report by Reuters, on Thursday, February 27, detailed that the World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom, warned that It would be wrong for any country to assume it will not be hit by the new coronavirus, and rich countries that might have thought they were safer should expect surprises.
“No country should assume it won’t get cases, that would be a fatal mistake, quite literally," he stated.
The WHO declared the outbreak an international emergency on Jan. 30 and has been urging countries to ready screening, isolation wards and public education campaigns.
"Coronavirus won’t discriminate between the rich and the poor, the elite and the hoi polloi, the powerful and the oppressed. It will hit all equally hard. That’s why resuming direct China flights is folly. It puts every Kenyan a sneeze, cough and handshake away from death," Professor Makau Mutua, a political analyst also warned.
