NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 30 – Dagoretti South lawmaker John Kiarie Sunday said he will exercise restraint on matters regarding coronavirus after grilling by police on remarks he made on the spread of the virus in the country which Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe termed as alarmist.
In a statement posted in his twitter handle, Kiarie said he responded to concerns by government on his social media post was construed to mean Kenya could have as many as 7,000 in quarantine with the risk of having contracted the disease.
“As a law abiding citizen, I presented myself to the Dagoretti Division Police Headquarters, to honour summons to appear at the DCIO office. I responded to the concerns by government on my publications regarding the COVID 19 situation in Kenya. Two issues were raised; on the 7,000 figure and the 10,000 projection of infections by May to which I responded,” part of his statement read.
The one-time MP pointed out that his figures were only projections of the number of people who flew into the country from coronavirus-hit countries since the virus was declared a global pandemic.
“I allayed any fears that I meant the 7,000 were held in Lenana School. As they noted, in my post, the figure was the number of Kenyans who landed in the country since the onset of this calamity, who should be in quarantine, which in itself is a very conservative estimate,” he stated.
On Sunday, CS Kagwe warned leaders against spreading false information on the COVID-19 situation in the country for political mileage.
“Even if more people might get into quarantine, it is simply not the case at the moment. So why would you as a leader wish that more Kenyans were on quarantine. Why would you go ahead and claim that the government is hiding information? for what purpose?” Kagwe posed.
“It is immoral for any leader to use a disease for political mileage.”
The country has so far recorded 42 positive cases of the virus that has left over 34,000 people dead worldwide and infected over 700,000 others.
The health ministry Sunday announced aircraft hangers and boarding schools had been mapped up for conversion into makeshift hospitals should the number of infections surge.
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