How Siaya Priest Exposed Hundreds to Covid-19 [VIDEO]

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe addresses the media at Mbagathi District Hospital on Friday, March 6, 2020
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe addresses the media at Mbagathi District Hospital on Friday, March 6, 2020
Simon Kiragu
Kenyans.co.ke

UPDATE: Rome-based Siaya priest Richard Oduor, was on Thursday, April, 9 arrested by detectives after he was discharged from the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).

He was taken to Kilimani Police Station, awaiting prosecution for the violation of the Public Health Act, by exposing the public to Covid-19.

Reports indicate that he was scheduled to be arraigned in court on Tuesday, April, 14. 


Father Oduor, who was confirmed as one of the 8 who had tested positive for Covid-19 on March 22, is reported to have exposed several people to the deadly Coronavirus.

National Youth Service (NYS) Officers at the coronavirus isolation and treatment facility in Mbagathi District Hospital on Friday, March 6, 2020
National Youth Service (NYS) Officers at the coronavirus isolation and treatment facility in Mbagathi District Hospital on Friday, March 6, 2020
Simon Kiragu
Kenyans.co.ke

Upon jetting in from Rome, Italy on March 11, Father Oduor on the following day, was hosted by Father Bosco Kamau and Father Anthony Mario at the Utawala Catholic Parish in Nairobi.

A day later (March 13), the priest travelled by a commuter bus to Ugunja, Siaya County, where he attended the burial of Leonora Ogutu, the mother to one of the nuns based at the Lwak Convent.

The Rome-based priest was the chief guest at the funeral which was attended by hundreds of mourners.

Siaya County Commissioner Michael Ole Tialal immediately directed all who attended the funeral to voluntarily present themselves at the designated health centre for testing.

The priest then spent Sunday night at Sega Catholic parish where he joined parishioners for Sunday mass on March 15, before proceeding to the Lwak convent to condole with the bereaved nuns.

One of the priests revealed to the People Daily that the priest was tasked with giving holy communion to over 100 church faithful.

This placed the entire Sega church as well as the sisters at the convent under government watch as potential Covid-19 cases.

"We have also done contact tracing with the people he came in contact with and this is a continuing exercise," Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe, announced on Monday, March 23, when he stated that there were 16 confirmed cases in the country.

Once he was done with his farewells, the priest is said to have travelled back to Nairobi on March 16, via a commuter bus once again, and headed to the Utawala parish where he resided for five days.

Government Spokesman Cyrus Oguna addresses the media at Kenyatta National Hospital on Saturday, March 14, 2020
Government Spokesman Cyrus Oguna addresses the media at Kenyatta National Hospital on Saturday, March 14, 2020
Simon Kiragu
Kenyans.co.ke

His hosts claim despite being on quarantine, the priest left the parish several times to visit with his friends before he fell ill and was rushed to Mbagathi hospital in Nairobi on March 20, where he tested positive for the Covid-19.

Ole Tialal was livid after learning that the priest was now one of the individuals to have tested positive, stating that father Oduor's decision not to place himself under self-quarantine after jetting in from a country as badly affected by the virus as Italy, was just reckless and wrong.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Monday, March 23, issued a statement laying out the mode of punishment that will be meted out to individuals found guilty of infecting others with Covid-19.

Citing the Public Health Act Cap 242, the DCI announced that any individual found guilty of passing on infectious diseases to others knowingly would be ordered to pay a fine of Ksh 30,000, serve a 3-year prison sentence, or both.

Watch Father Oduor's movement across the country in detail below:

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