State Ordered To Refund Money Collected During Covid-19

On Thursday, December 3rd, the High Court ordered the State to refund money to all Kenyans who were illegally forced into quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Justice James Makau ruled that the government should refund in full the money collected from persons who were quarantined and were forced to pay.

The court has ruled that the decision by the government to quarantine members of the public without order was unlawful.

“The decision to quarantine members of the public without an order of the magistrate and forcing them to pay is contrary to the Public Health Act and therefore unconstitutional,” the court ruled.

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe had on Tuesday, March 22 announced a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all incoming travelers and those who may have been in contact with them.

This came after the government banned all international flights in and out of the country, excluding cargo flights. The government had earlier noted that travelers at the airport could choose between paying to stay in a hotel or staying without charge in a government quarantine facility.

The mandatory quarantine was, however, marred by chaos as the people placed in quarantine complained of poor conditions that included lack of bedding, water, food, and cleaning supplies, including soaps and detergents

The government is yet to reveal how much it collected from the quarantine facilities across the country with some reports indicating that those quarantines parted with about 28,000 shillings for the 14 days quarantine.

In the case, Activist Okiya Omtatah moved to court in April in a bid to compel the state to pay all Kenyans who were forced into quarantine without a court order.

Omtatah wanted the government to refund in full the money collected from persons who were quarantined and were forced to pay.

According to Omtatah, the decision made by the state that required individuals to go into compulsory quarantine without a magistrate’s order was illegal.

Back in March, Human Rights Watch, Kenya Human Rights Commission, and Journalists for Justice wrote to Kagwe, requesting information on the abuses in quarantine centers.

The National Emergency Response Committee on Coronavirus (NERCC), chaired by Health CS Mutahi Kagwe on Sunday, May 3, directed that curfew defaulters be placed in designated police quarantine facilities that were to be set up.