Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and declaration of a nationwide curfew in the country, 52 security personnel have been sent into forced quarantine.
Interior CAS Hussein Dhadho, on Thursday, April 30, revealed that the officers had been forcefully isolated for flouting the dusk-to-dawn curfew.
Dhadho who appeared before the Senate Ad-hoc Committee on the Covid-19 pandemic revealed that of the total, 38 officers were from the National Police Service, 10 from the Kenya Army, and 3 from the Prisons Department.
He further revealed that one officer under forced quarantine was from the National Intelligence Service.
"The police force is determined to ensure that the law is adhered to without infringing on the rights of Kenyans, despite the few incidents reported," Dhadho stated.
Parliament had summoned Interior CS Fred Matiang'i and Health CS Mutahi Kagwe to respond to reports on police brutality during the curfew period and the arrests made on members of the public flouting the orders.
“The committee is concerned that the enforcement and implementation of these two sets of rules have since encountered considerable challenges affecting a wide range of the general public. The committee has therefore invited the CSs for a meeting to deliberate on the issues,” a statement by National Assembly clerk Michael Sialai reads in part.
The committee further expressed concern that CS Matiang'i had failed to appear before the committee for a fourth consecutive time.
Sakaja directed that the Interior CS appear before the committee on Thursday, May 7, 2020.
Since the start of the curfew on March 27, 2020, there have been reports of security officers being arrested flouting the rules on social distancing. Most notably, has been a number of cases of police officers being arrested in entertainment spots around the country.
On April 20, 2020, while addressing the nation during the daily Covid-19 briefings, CS Kagwe stated that persons caught subverting the curfew order would be quarantined at their own cost.
"Once you are out during curfew hours, it is assumed that you have now been exposed and therefore you will be taken to a quarantine facility at your own expense," CS Kagwe had stated.
The issue of forced quarantine, to top it off with the fact that it would be at one's personal cost, has elicited mixed reactions amongst members of the public.
On Thursday, April 23, 2020, activist Okiya Omtatah filed a petition in court, challenging the manner with which the government executed measures in the fight against Covid-19.
He questioned the decision by the government to forcefully quarantine people without an order from the court as required by law. Omtatah argued that the Public Health Act required that the government foot quarantine bills.
"There is no power under Section 27 for the government to require persons whom it believes are not accommodated in such a manner as is adequate to guard against the spread of the disease to meet some or any of the costs of providing the required adequate accommodation," Omtatah had argued.
