Narc Kenya party leader Martha Karua has condemned police brutality witnessed on the first day of implementation of government’s dusk to dawn curfew.
The former Gichugu legislator criticised the unwarranted brutality meted out on innocent Kenyans by police calling on the Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai to rein in on his charges.
She decried how the police have turned fellow citizens into enemies instead of the coronavirus.
“As leaders, we should not forget that Kenyans are already too brutalised by an economy that is crashing (sic) the hopes and dreams of generations before yesterday’s violence.
“We must all stand in solidarity with one another, supporting each other and treating one another with dignity and respect, in adherence with the law in order to defeat our common enemy,” added Ms Karua.
The lawmaker called on the government, while implementing the curfew, to institute measures to rescue the vulnerable groups from hunger especially those who depend on the unstable daily jobs, the many jobless and those already made jobless by the current situation.
“In implementing the curfew or indeed any other measures to mitigate covid-19, the government must devote time to forward planning of the possible scenarios to avoid adverse effects on the already vulnerable members of the society,” she said.
She called on markets, which provide essential services, to be decongested and reopened even if it entails temporary relocated and provided with infrastructure for hygiene standards necessary.
Ms Karua urged the government to come up with urgent short term plan to provide water and sanitation to informal settlements and a viable long term plan for housing for the vulnerable.
She pointed out that to be successful in the fight against coronavirus, water for handwashing must be accessible to all and to this end, the national government in conjunction with county governments should ensure that not only water is accessible to the vulnerable populations but also that as many public health facilities as possible have some minimal capacity to respond to the pandemic at their local level.
“We are aware and grateful that some counties have already instituted mitigation measures. We call upon the national government to urgently provide policy guidelines to harmonise such interventions across the country, ” she said.
The former Justice Minister implored the government in the short run to work with county governments to ensure each county is equipped with personnel and infrastructure to combat the coronavirus.
In addition to implementing universal health care and revamping public health facilities countrywide in the long run.
“It is also time to map and call out all health workers as a measure of preparedness,” said Ms Karua.
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