Alarm, panic, fear cannot fully describe the situation that has hit Parliament after 17 legislatures and staff in Parliament tested positive for COVID-19.
The high confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the legislatures can be explained by their love for traveling and engaging in gatherings to ensure their relevance is ensured.
The Ministry of Health has since advised that Parliament cancels all the sittings including the special sittings of both Houses because a number of the MPs had tested positive.
The legislatures whose results came out on Monday were positive were among selected people who were randomly tested last week with the results shocking the Ministry and the legislatures immediately being sent for quarantine.
“There are 17 Members of Parliament who have been tested and turned positive. The information is not clear but it’s members and staff. So that is the reason why the House was suspended,” a legislator revealed on condition of anonymity.
The names of the legislatures are protected by the law and can only reveal their identities and status to Kenyans themselves.
The 17 are some of those that met Rabi MP Kamoti Mwamkale who also tested positive forcing the Ministry to test his colleagues, the MPSs he had come into contact with.
The Speaker shortly after the release of the results showing 17 had tested positive, announced that all sittings had been suspended with immediate effect to protect other Kenyan legislatures and the Country at large.
Some of the MPs are suspected to have contracted the deadly COVID-19 virus from Kilifi Deputy Governor Gideon Saburi who is currently facing the law with charges of endangering Kenyan lives by refusing to self-quarantine.
Legislators, including Senators and both houses staff, have been presenting themselves for tests and quarantine in Parliament.
Speaker Justin Muturi and Ken Lusaka of the Senate have both been tested for COVID-19 and received their individual results.
However, according to National Assembly Minority Leader John Mbadi, the decision to cancel Wednesday’s special sitting was to allow the Legislatures who participated in the voluntary testing to receive their results.
“The reason why the sitting was canceled – what I was made aware – is that MPs were tested on Friday and Saturday. The Ministry of Health advised that it would be reckless for us to have a sitting before the statuses were confirmed,” Mbadi said.
Kenya has reported 172 confirmed cases of COVID-19 who include 56 males and 44 Females, all aged between 2 years and 72 years.
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