Kenya Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund Raises Ksh 1.2 Billion

The Emergency Response Fund for the deadly Coronavirus that was set up by President Uhuru Kenyatta has raised a total of 1.2 billion shillings.

“The board embarked on its mandate and I am happy to report that the support and goodwill towards this initiative has been very encouraging,” said Jane Karuku, the Chairperson of the Board.

According to the Chairperson, the fund has so far received 917,768,950 shillings in solid cash. The fund has also received 370,300,000 shillings worth of goods in form of both food and non-food items.

The total amount contributed to the fund now stands at 1,288,068,950 shillings collected in less than two weeks.

Safaricom is the largest contributor to the fund with 200,000,000 shillings. Co-operative Bank of Kenya gave 100,000,000 shillings while Kenya Media Owners Association has pledged 150,000,000 with each of the 15 members expected to give 10,000,000 shillings each.

Kenyans are now calling on the government to account for every penny being contributed towards Covid-19, something that might be difficult given that this is Kenya run by some of the most unscrupulous Kenyans.

Kenyans are also wondering why the government cannot use part of the money contributed to evacuate Kenyans who are stranded and being persecuted in Wuhan, China.

The Chinese authorities are blaming Kenyans and other Africans for the re-emergence of new Coronavirus infections, especially in Wuhan.

The members of the Emergency Response Board include Jane Karuku (MD KBL), Kennedy Kihara, Michael Joseph (Safaricom Board Member), Dr. James Mwangi (Equity Group Managing Director) and Joshua Oigara (CEO of KCB Group) appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Currently, Kenya has 296 confirmed cases of Covid-19, 14 confirmed deaths and 74 recoveries. The number of active cases stands at 208 with 2 being in critical condition.

In Tanzania, the numbers seem to be swelling. In the last announcement, confirmed cases stood at 254 with 10 confirmed deaths and 11 recoveries. The number of active cases stands at 233 with 4 being in critical condition.