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Hillary Mageka @hillarymageka

A team of six lawyers have called on President Uhuru Kenyatta to order for the local manufacturing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and medical equipment for the management and control of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lawyers Catherine Mumma, Mary Amuyunzu-Nyamongo, Kamotho Waiganjo and Sabina Wakasiaka want  Uhuru to trigger the comprehensive review of the policies and laws on disaster management and emergency preparedness to strengthen the national response to combat the pandemic.

If the President invokes the necessary laws, they argue, it will facilitate the compulsory manufacturing of PPEs to manage and control the spread of Covid-19 because as it stands, some healthcare workers are afraid to engage patients without PPEs.

“It is time to get the industry to prioritise the mass production of adequate PPEs for the management and control of coronavirus,” they said in their submissions signed for and on behalf of the six counsels by Mumma.

“The current challenge in acquiring adequate PPE for the health workers managing Covid-19 presents the opportunity to begin looking at ways of making what is required locally even by compulsion,” they added.

First case

Since the first case of the virus was reported in Kenya, they argue, there has been a spike in the number of infected persons that raises the question of how well Kenya is prepared to manage and control the spread of Covid-19.

A report by South Africa’s Rand Merchant Bank, ranks Kenya’s economy as having the highest overall Covid-19 risk score of 27 points.

“The Covid 19 pandemic is global and most countries are looking inward to fight their domestic problems with very few countries (China, Cuba, and Germany) able to lend a hand to other countries,” they told the Senate adhoc committee on Covid-19 situation yesterday.

The committee chaired by Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja is tasked with to oversighting actions and measures taken by the national and county governments in addressing the spread and effects of Covid-19 global pandemic.