In his national address on the 6th June 2020, President Uhuru spoke about the lack of sufficient isolation-ward capacity at the county level giving an example of Siaya County that had a 10 bed isolation ward with 9 positive covid-19 cases. The home care alternative would be a risk as it exposed loved ones to the virus. Kenya currently has 3,094 positive cases with the number increasing daily. The imposed government directives has led to salary cuts, loss of jobs, impacting the economy adversely, not mention that the financial year for the government comes to a close, awaiting the new budget reading from Treasury. The President has reiterated severally in his national address on his wish to open up the country for the economy's sake but the factors mentioned must be taken into consideration and not lightly.
To this effect, President Kenyatta convened a meeting at State House, Nairobi on the 10th June 2020 with national and county governments to discuss on Covid-19 response measures that include the attainment of a national 30,500 isolation bed capacity in the next 4 weeks, placed ahead of the gradual re-opening of the country's economy. The target is 300 isolation beds for each county, positive cases have been confirmed in 35 out of 47 counties.
Other intervention measures include:
County governments to review their fiscal and strategic plans for the 2020 to 2021 financial year to include Covid-19 prevention and control measures;
Involving the Council of Governors in the ongoing consultations being undertaken by an inter-faith council on the re-opening of places of worship and the ongoing education sector stakeholder consultations on schools and other learning institutions re-opening.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy President Dr.William Ruto, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe who assured the Ministry's full support and cooperation to county governments, Treasury CS Ukur Yattani who said his Ministry was in the process of assessing the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the economy.
President Kenyatta "When this summit sits, its only business is Kenya. No party affiliations; no political distancing;and no ethnic divisionism. The summit becomes the soul of Kenya. That is why the pronouncements of this gathering, whenever we meet, become articles of our faith in "Project Kenya."
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