President Uhuru Kenyatta may end COVID-19 lockdown next week

Newspaper headlines on Monday, June 29, report on the state of COVID-19 pandemic in the country as anxiety builds up ahead of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s review of the current containment measures of July 6.

Also closely examined is how the ODM party and its NASA partner Wiper are hoping to rip big from vacancies created after Jubilee Party expelled renegade members from House committees.

COVID-19 cases in the country topped 6,000 on Sunday, June 28, and settled at 6,070 while deaths and recoveries were 143 and 1,971 respectively. Photo: UGC.
Source: UGC

1. Daily Nation

Daily Nation reports that President Uhuru is next week expected to reopen the country thus ending a period of about four months that Kenya has been on partial lockdown.

Earlier Uhuru said reopening will be dependent on the capacity of counties to tackle the pandemic.

On Sunday, June 28, the Ministry of Health revealed that counties had met the requirements which included setting up of at least 300-beds to handle COVID-19 cases.

The ministry also stated that passengers travelling between counties will be examined to establish if they have any signs or symptoms of the disease.

“With this approach, we will be able to kick out about 80% of COVID-19 cases. It a simple approach that does not require a lot of resources.

If we can do this, then we can open up the country,” said Health Acting Director-General Patrick Amoth.

2. The Standard

Panic has gripped Parliament after at least six lawmakers were diagnosed with COVID-19 and got admitted to various hospitals in Nairobi.

The six confirmed cases have seen at least 20 other MPs seek testing over the weekend after closely interacting with the infected.

Clerk of the National Assembly Michael Sialai, however, said House leadership was not aware of any of its members who were COVID-19 positive noting that health was a private matter and could only be made public if patients volunteered such information.

According to the daily, cases of COVID-19 among MPs can easily be transferred to their constituencies since they travel often between the legislative units and Nairobi.

The Standard has listed gathering politicians have been convening in various parts across the country, some in total disregard of health guidelines, as among factors attributed to infections among MPs.

3. People Daily

Counties could be headed for another revenue standoff incase senators today fail to agree on a cash sharing formula proposed by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA).

The CRA has prescribed counties will share the KSh 316.5 billion allocated to them in the 2020-2021 fiscal year based on population.

This means populous counties will reap big while those with meagre count will get smaller allocations.

Devolved units that are expected to benefit more from the approach are Nairobi (KSh 5.3bn), Nakuru (KSh 3.1bn), Kakamega (KSh 2.1bn), Kiambu (KSh 1.3bn) and Uasin Gishu (KSh 923 million).

Sparsely populated counties will, however, have a smaller allocation compared to what they were allocated in 2019-2020.

Mandera will shed KSh 2.09 bn, Wajir will forgo KSh 1.4 bn, Mombasa (KSh 1.4 bn), Kwale (KSh 1.2 bn), Marsabit (KSh 2.3 bn), Kilifi (KSh 1.1 bn) as Garissa loses KSh 484M.

4. The Star

The daily reports that ex-president Mwai Kibaki has from since June 19 been admitted at a VIP ward at the Nairobi Hospital.

Kibaki was admitted after experiencing lower abdominal pains.

A team of doctors attending to him said there was no cause for alarm since they were managing the discomfort.

5. Taifa Leo

Despite Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru having survived an impeachment motion against her, it has emerged that she is still being probed for fraud-related charges by the EACC.

The commission’s central region boss Charles Rasungu said the antigraft agency was investigating a KSh 50 million tender the county awarded Velocity Ltd.

According to Rasungu, the case was presented before the EACC by a Kirinyinga resident in May 2020 and not MCA’s who were seeking to dethrone the governor.

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