Senate Speaker Ken Lusaka on Tuesday, March 31 announced that the Senate would surrender Ksh200 million from its budget to aid government's efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
The funds taken from the Senate's budgetary allocation will be channelled to the National Treasury which will redirect the monies towards the Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund.
The announcement after the Senate held a special sitting to deliberate on measures to be put in place to protect Kenyans during the Covid-19 crisis.
"This is, therefore, to inform you, and the public at large, that a meeting of the Senate Business Committee held on Monday, 30th March 2020, the committee resolved that the Senate shall yield the sum of Ksh200 million from our budget allocation in the financial year 2019/2020 to aid in the efforts of the government in combating the pandemic.
"The Senate therefore requests the Parliamentary Service Commission to take the necessary administrative measures to yield the stated sum from the budget of the Senate to the National Treasury to be re-allocated and utilized in efforts to combat the pandemic," the statement read in part.
Senators who attended the sitting on Tuesday, March 31 were required to wash their hands before entering the chambers. In addition, they sat meters away from each other in compliance with directives on social distancing.
Among the main issues senators raised was the poor implementation of the curfew, with police criticized for using excessive force in many cases.
"First it's to condole with the families who've lost loves ones during the curfew. The curfew is now competing with Coronavirus in terms of deaths, in fact, the curfew is now leading," stated Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo.
Kilonzo further called for all senators to undergo Covid-19 testing in light of the confirmed case in the National Assembly where Rabai MP Kamoti Mwamkale tested positive.
Migori Senator Ochilo Ayacko echoed Mutula's sentiments, warning that citizens would turn against the police if the process was not handled differently, further explaining that many Kenyans unable to get home in time for the curfew were simply caught up trying to provide for themselves and their families.
"Without debating the legality or illegality of the curfew which is in court, I don't think it's possible to have a 'one size fits all' solution to this country. You cannot think that the curfew that is applicable in Nairobi is applicable in Migori or Mandera.
"You cannot just lock people down and prevent them from doing things that feed them, hoping that they'll be able to cooperate. I'm foreseeing a situation where after 5 or 10 days we will have people killing police officers.
"We do not want to deal with one problem which is likely to escalate to another. This committee must find a mechanism of urging the Executive to engage counties and find out what kind of curfew can work in each county," Ayacko stated.
Wajir Senator Ibrahim Ali asserted that chaos would erupt if the most vulnerable in society were not taken care of during the crisis.
"For those who can afford to stay in quarantine, you stay. There are others who cannot afford that luxury. Those ones who don't have that luxury of food and paying rent.
"Very soon if we don't take care of them we're going to have angry people beating up those who want to hide in their houses," he stated.
Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja called for interventions to cushion Kenyans who had lost dependable sources of income due to the pandemic.
"Some of the budgets must be reallocated and done by this house. We cannot be talking about billions today for large infrastructure if we cannot feed the people in our informal settlements and our slums.
"We need economic cushioning, fuel prices must go down. We have a huge night economy in this city, DJs, waiters, bouncers, bartenders, taxi drivers need to be cushioned
"The ban on mitumba is making very many traders suffer. As we sit here, there are millions of goods confiscated by the ICD. These goods have been paid for tax on the 9th of March. They're serving no one's interests being held at ICD (Inland Container Depot)," he asserted.
