Kenyans return home early on second day of curfew
Some residents of Museno market stand outside a shop along Kakamega-Kisumu highway that was still open after 7pm on March 28, 2020 despite the curfew order. PHOTO | ISAAC WALE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- By 6.30pm Saturday, Kakamega town was largely deserted.
- The curfew was imposed as the government seeks to fight the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
- In Nyalenda tuk tuk and boda boda riders were still operating past the hour.
Security officers in Kakamega and Vihiga counties braved a heavy downpour during patrols to enforce the nationwide curfew which entered its second day on Saturday.
Residents rushed home early to avoid being caught up in the rains, giving police officers an easy time as they enforced the regulations which require people to be out of the streets between 7pm and 5am.
COVID-19 PANDEMIC
The curfew was imposed as the government seeks to fight the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.
Kenya has so far recorded 38 Covid-19 cases with one patient having fully recovered. One other patient died.
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By 6.30pm Saturday, Kakamega town was largely deserted.
The pandemonium witnessed on Friday evening as police patrolled the streets and ordered residents to leave town did not play out on Saturday as the officers went about their duties without barking orders or lobbying tear gas canisters at people walking home.
BODA BODAS
At Shinyalu market, boda boda riders took advantage of the rains to hang around well past 7pm while waiting for passengers heading to rural homes.
There was no presence of police officers at the market for close to an hour after the start of the curfew.
At Chavakali market, police officers in a private car chased boda boda riders and youths who had gathered at the bus stage.
A police road block had been set up at Shierere, nearly four kilometres to Kakamega town.
POLICE
In Kisumu, police officers were stationed strategically along roads, in their vehicles, a few minutes to 7pm as residents made a last minute rush home to beat the start of the curfew hour.
Some residents, however, were not in a hurry to leave the town centre as they went about their businesses until the last minute.
In Kondele, police started throwing tear gas as soon as it hit 7pm, forcing residents to scamper for safety.
In Nyalenda, however, tuk tuk and boda boda riders were still operating past the hour.
Scores of youths hurdled together in groups on the roadside way past the hour, in open defiance of the curfew order.
Reporting by Benson Amadala, Derick Luvega and Caroline Wafula
