Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i has ordered all employers to release their employees by 4pm every day to allow the workers beat the 7pm curfew cut-off hour set by Government.
In a special issue Gazette Notice dated March 30, the CS said the directive takes effect immediately.
“To facilitate compliance with Public Order (State Curfew), all employers shall ensure that their staff [members] who are not designated as critical or essential services providers leave the workplace no later than 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon,” said the minister.
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Matiang’i’s directive comes a few days after Health ministry chief, Mutahi Kagwe, urged employers to release employees by 4pm so that the curfew cut-off hour doesn’t find them [employees] away from home.
“You cannot release your employee from work at 6:30pm in Nairobi CBD, and expect him or her to get to Thika in 30 minutes,” said Kagwe last Monday after updating Kenyans on the coronavirus situation in the country at the time.
The 7pm-5am curfew came into force on Friday, March 27.
Several citizens in Mombasa, Nairobi and Kisumu counties are reported to have been killed, or harmed by police officers enforcing the directive.
A 13-year-old boy from Huruma in Nairobi, Yassin Hussein, was shot and killed by cops who were implementing the confinement edict on Monday.
In Mombasa, a boda boda operator in Likoni was last Saturday beaten to death by police officers after he was found outside his house at 8pm. The boda boda operator, Juma Kambiriwa, had taken a pregnant woman to hospital, and was on his way back home, when he was cornered and assaulted by police.
While addressing the press on Wednesday, April 1, President Kenyatta said he was sorry over the unfortunate police actions.
“I want to apologise to all Kenyans for the excesses that were conducted [while enforcing the curfew],” said the Head of State.
Kenya, as of Wednesday, April 1, confirmed that it had recorded 81 cases of coronavirus, with 22 new cases registered on April 1 alone.
The country has thus far registered a single death from COVID-19, and two recoveries. The total cases under treatment therefore stands at 78.
