Influx of mourners from Nairobi to villages irks Busia response team

A police officer inspects a document from a driver leaving Mombasa County through Bonje boundary roadblock in Mombasa County on Tuesday, May 12, 2020 Concern has been raised over movements to the interior parts of Kenya putting more risks into areas with low prevalence. [Kelvin Karani, Standard].

A team fighting the spread of coronavirus in Busia has decried high numbers of mourners arriving in villages from Nairobi for burials over weekends.

David Mukabi who is coordinating the fight against Covid-19 in the county said on Tuesday that mourners normally have authorisation letters written and signed by Chiefs or Assistant Chiefs of areas they live in Nairobi.

Mukabi has since appealed to Nairobi Police Commander Philip Ndolo and County Commissioner Wilson Njega to investigate the matter.

He also wants the two senior police bosses to clarify who exactly should give pallbearers green light to travel to villages.

According to Dr Mukabi, a maximum of five people are supposed to accompany the body for the burial in upcountry but in the recent past, over 20 people have been arriving in villages with bodies of the deceased.

Butula and Samia have been rated highest in terms of sub counties that are recording many people from Nairobi coming to bury their loved ones.

“We are not happy with the way Chief and their Assistants are operating, they are giving us hard time on the ground because these people arriving with body of their relatives have letters written by those officers,” said Mukabi.

“Sometime after being notified by locals that huge number of people have arrived from Nairobi, we find the visitors have already interacted with so many people and this is dangerous,” he added.

County Public Health Officer Joseph Oprong observed that there was need for tougher guidelines to be put in place to curb influx of people from Capital City.

“Nairobi has recorded many cases of corona so it makes us worried when we see scores of people arriving from our villages and interact with elderly people,” said Oprong.

He last week lamented an incident in Samia where over 20 people arrived from Nairobi with a body for burial.

When officers inquired how they managed to pass the roadblocks, it was established that all of them had letters from the Chief.

“It was hard for us to take them to a quarantine facility since each one of them had a letter allowing him or her to travel and attend the burial,” said Oprong.