Covid law-breakers to meet tough new rules in crackdown

Inspector General of Police Hilary Mutyambai yesterday announced draconian measures intended to curb spread of Covid-19, invoking fears of potential human rights abuses.

Anyone found in breach of the public health measures will face an instant cash fine of Sh20,000 while those arrested while driving beyond the 10pm curfew will have their licences cancelled, Mr Mutyambai announced at a media briefing yesterday.  Human rights groups immediately responded in protest

“As human rights defenders, our experience on the ground is that security agencies, particularly the police, have time and again failed to enforce the regulations and instead used them to harass, intimidate, torture and even kill Kenyans in the guise of enforcing Covid 19 regulations,” said 15 human rights groups led by Haki Africa in a statement.

The National Police Service last night began enforcing regulations announced on Wednesday by President Uhuru Kenyatta as the government attempts to turn the tide against the rapid spread of Covid-19.

Just hours after President Kenyatta announced the new regulations he hoped would turn the tide on infections, the Nation witnessed Nairobi residents being asked to part with money for not wearing face masks.

Sh20,000 fine

Along Kimathi Street, just outside the Nation Centre building, pedestrians who had no masks on were being handcuffed by a group of police officers in plain clothes at 8pm on Wednesday night. Under the Public Health Act, which was invoked in April, anyone found in public without a mask shall pay a fine of Sh20,000.

While this law and several others have been in existence since March, the government has fallen short on the aspect of enforcement. As a result, most Kenyans have behaved as there is no pandemic from July when the government eased initially tough regulations and protocols meant to fight the spread of the virus.

The situation has been worsened by law enforcement officers who have used the last few months to make money from those breaking the rules at the expense of the overall health of the nation, which is now approaching crisis levels.

President Kenyatta’s admission on Wednesday during his meeting with governors that his government had failed in enforcing the law validated what many Kenyans had been witnessing all along.

“If we are experiencing an escalation of infections countrywide it is not because our health systems have failed. The crisis is as a result of our failure to manage the human response to this pandemic. We must admit that there is a collective failure in the area of enforcement,” he said.

The harsh reality is that the country had succumbed to the fatigue of living under the tough health and security restrictions that have been in place for the last eight months. The consequences of this backsliding especially after the phased reopening of the economy have been catastrophic.

The number of infections have surged by a staggering 622 percent from 7,900 on July 7 when President Kenyatta announced a phased reopening of the economy to Wednesday’s announcement of new restrictions. During this time, deaths climbed by 549 percent from just 160 to 1,039.

New regulations

And so when the National Police Service announced yesterday that it will strictly enforce the new regulations through a yet to be set up Special Enforcement Unit, human rights groups immediately raised an alarm.

IG Mutyambai said individuals caught flouting the rules will be fined instead of being arrested to protect police cells around the country from being congested.

He said the formation of the SEU was in its initial stages but quickly pointed out that enforcement will be conducted by a multi-agency team, with the police taking the second line of enforcement.

For example the police will not be involved in closing down markets, shops, restaurants and bars found to be operating with disregard to the guidelines, which will be left to county enforcement officers. He, however, noted that the enforcement of the 10pm-4am curfew is purely a mandate of the police.

“We will also work with other departments but the police still exercise the power to work within the law and have the tools which we have been using and I am not obstructing the officers from using those tools,” said the IG.

Public service vehicles and private motorists caught on the road beyond the curfew hours will have their licenses cancelled by officers who will be enforcing the curfew on the roads in conjunction with officers from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA).

The same law applies to saccos, which risk losing all their fleet licenses if one of their vehicles is found to have contravened the regulations. There are however rules on the circumstances in which private motorists or PSV saccos, can lose their licences.