Police transfers shelved over coronavirus crisis

Transfer of police officers to new stations has been suspended until the ongoing concerted efforts to contain the infectious coronavirus bears fruits.

This means that no police will move from his or her current work station to another one. The Deputy Inspector General of Kenya Police Service Edward Mbugua in a letter dated March 24 suspended the movement of the officers that were due for transfer until further notice.

“This is not cancelation of the transfer but a suspension pending the containment of the virus,” read the letter in part.

“A further signal will follow when the situation improves. Let the officers remain in their current stations until that time. Act accordingly,” it read further.

By today afternoon, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country stood at 110 and the number is projected to go up drastically.

Meanwhile police in Busia were forced to camp in Bulanda and Marachi at night on Monday night to suppress rowdy youths that remained adamant they will not stay in the house even with the curfew in place.

Police had to lob teargas canisters to disperse the youth. Yesterday some locals from Bulanda in Busia lamented that police used excess force to ensure that people remain in the house between 7pm and 5am.

" Police officers should act within the law and try to be humane enough, they should stop lobbing teargas canisters in our houses," said Mary Achieng, a resident of Bulanda.

Kenya confirmed 29 new cases which took the total tally of confirmed cases to 110. In addition, Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe that the country had registered two deaths from the Covid-19, making the total number of mortalities to three.

As of now, the number of those who have recovered from the bug are three where the latest one is the Kilifi Deputy Governor Gideon Saburi who fell ill recently after travelling to Germany.