Education CS Professor George Magoha on Sunday, August 2, fired a warning to lecturers over non-adherence to the government's Covid-19 measures as reopening nears.
This followed the death of Ken Ouko, a lecturer at the University of Nairobi (UoN) after developing Covid-19 complications at the Aga Khan Hospital.
Magoha was speaking after inspecting Maseno University in Kisumu ahead of the reopening of universities in January 2021, and warned about the dangers of the deadly virus.
"This disease is even killing people, you just collapse and die, I have told you what it does to the blood clotting system.
"So bwana VC you should guard your academic staff jealously. The only way you can do that is to ensure that you put sanitisers outside the toilets, boarding halls and theatres," noted Magoha.
UoN has so far lost five staff, including three lectures and two non-teaching staff and had earlier on pushed reopening to 2021 before the Ministry's move.
The CS also warned about politicising the decision to postpone the planned reopening of institutions of higher learning from September 2020 to January 2021.
Magoha noted that most institutions were not well prepared to enforce the prevention measures as recommended by the Ministry.
The former chairman of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) advised institutions to prioritise testing of staff now that schools remained closed.
While speaking to the media at Maseno University, Magoha also urged universities to scale up their online learning ahead of a planned reopening in January 2021.
The country has experienced a surge in Covid-19 cases. As of Saturday, August 1, a total of 727 more people tested positive taking the total to 21,363. A record 23 fatalities were recorded raising the cumulative deaths associated with Covid-19 to364.
