Governor Kingi orders closure of all firms in Kilifi County over coronavirus

Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi on Wednesday March 25 annoucned the temporary closure of all the firms in the county following the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the country.

Through a statement to the office of the County secretary, Governor Kingi stated that the temporary closure is part of mitigation towards the further spread of the pandemic.

These firms include all Economic Processing Zones (EPZs), Mombasa Cement Factory, Mabari Rolling Mills, all salt Processing firms, all sand harvesting quarries, all coral blocks cutting quarries, all Manganese quarries, all ballast quarries and other industries within the country.  

Governor Kingi’s directive comes a day after Health CS Mutahi Kagwe announced that the coronavirus cases in the country rose to 25 with cases spreading out in Mombasa, Nairobi, Kilifi and Kwale Counties.

“The County Leadership has decided and firmly directed and for which I hereby do: That your firms and this is with is with immediate effect, be completely shut down (closed) until further notice and or when the situation normailizes for the better for which same shall be notified to yourselves officially by the authorities,” read part of the statement.

The Kilifi Governor also added that the companies which will fail to adhere to the directives will attract sanctions such as permanent closure of the businesses.

“Please note that failure to abide by the directives aforementioned will lead to severe consequences which shall attract heavy sanctions including permanent closure of your business firms and prosecutions,” said Kingi.

Several leaders including former Gatanga MP Peter Kenneth and Lawyer Ahmednasir Abdullahi have called for a total lockdown in the country in a bid to contain the virus.

Ahmednasir stated that a lockdown of between 2-3 weeks would go a long way in combating the virus.

Kenneth, through a press briefing appealed to the government to have a total lockdown for about two to four weeks.

“I want to appeal and persuade the government that we need a total lockdown for a period of two to four weeks. From what I have read and seen, you can only address this disease by total suppression. If we do not suppress it by confining each person to their household we will not be able to fight this virus,” said Kenneth.

Government Spokesperson Col. Cyrus Oguna said that a lockdown is on the table but added that lifting taxes to cushion Kenyans on the economic impact is not an option.

“A lockdown is something that is always on the table but we don’t want to get there and we will not get there if our people are able to obey the advisory and measures that have put in place by the government,” said Oguna.