The Red Cross has raised an alarm over the high number of people managing to sneak into the Mt Kenya region from Nairobi despite the high presence of the police at Thika road block.
According to the Red Cross’s Mt Kenya Regional Manager Gitonga Mugambi, the police are to blame for the laxity, which if unchecked will see an upsurge of the corona virus in the area.
Mugambi narrated how he allegedly travelled from Nairobi and on reaching the Thika road block witnessed someone pay Sh. 1,000 to a police officer and was allowed to continue with his journey.
“Though we appreciate the good work most of our police officers do while enforcing the law on the corona virus, there are a few who are openly soliciting money from desperate travelers especially those destined for Mt Kenya region which if unchecked will leave the entire region highly exposed to the pandemic, “he said.
The official noted that some people were travelling from Mombasa, Machakos, Kitui and Embu then Kirinyaga and to Nakuru and vice versa, a phenomenon that was only impacting negatively towards the fight against corona disease.
“With a positive corona cases now reported in Meru County, the region is no longer safe and urgent measures should be undertaken to contain the spread of the virus amongst the residents,” he said.
At the same time Mugambi has declared that out of the 20 people in the region who have drowned in various rivers only nine bodies have been recovered so far.
Mugambi said due to the high volumes of water in the rivers following the heavy rains, it has become difficult for the divers to continue with the search for the missing bodies.
