ONTIMENEWSKENYA

A policeman was arrested for receiving Sh20,000 cash bail from a motorist he had arrested along Limuru Road then issued him with a fake receipt. Constable Mohamed Sirat was busted while counting the money at his house. The money was seized as exhibit against him. Sirat had arrested Michael Mboya claiming he had committed a traffic offence. Mboya did not have cash and Sirat escorted him to a bank at Village Market where he withdrew and handed the cash to him. The policeman then told Mboya to appear at Milimani law courts on March 24 but indicated at the back of the fake receipt, “not to go to court forgiven”. Mboya reported the matter at Gigiri police station after he doubted the receipt upon reading Sirat’s directions, and officers from the station led by the station’s boss traced Sirat. “He was arrested, exhibit recovered and positively identified by the complainant. The police document that was issued as fake cash bail was also recovered and kept as exhibit,” police r

Sub-Saharan Africa has recorded its first Covid-19 death, a high-ranking politician in Burkina Faso, as the head of the World Health Organisation urged the continent to “prepare for the worst”. “Africa should wake up,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday, pointing out that “in other countries, we have seen how the virus actually accelerates after a certain tipping point”. Africa has lagged behind the global curve for coronavirus infections and deaths but, in the past few days, has seen a significant rise in cases. Experts have repeatedly warned about the perils for the continent, given its weak health infrastructure, poverty, conflicts, poor sanitation and urban crowding. Medical authorities in the poor Sahel state of Burkina Faso announced on Wednesday that the number of infections there had risen by seven to 27 — and that one of them, a 62-year-old diabetic woman, had died overnight. The country’s main opposition party, the Union for

Media Council of Kenya (MCK) now wants all press conferences suspended to prevent congregation of large number of journalists and media practitioners in one location. This is in response to the coronavirus pandemic that is ravaging the world. Other recommendations by the Media Sector Emergency Response Team (MESERT) include the provision of live feeds to national and community level media houses for public communication announcements from the national and county governments. The team also wants the national government to provide the media with protective gear as they cover the spread of the virus on the ground. MESERT is a body that was formed by MCK that comprises of media sector stakeholder who monitor the safety of journalists and media practitioners around the Covid-19. The team will also develop comprehensive guidelines on coverage of such disease outbreaks as part of the MCK’s media safety protocols. “The team has since met and made recommendations to the office of

City Hall on Thursday started fumigating the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD) and its environs as part of measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. The fumigation started at the GPO and moved to various parts of the city centre targeting areas that are densely populated. Workers dressed in protective gear and spray pumps used chlorine to spray the streets and walkways around CBD. Starehe sub-county public health officer Charles Kibue, while addressing the media, said the fumigation process will be continued and conducted on a daily basis. He also called upon other parties to join in the fumigation exercise saying buildings will need to be fumigated especially at entry and exit points. Unlike in China were the deadly disease originated, City Hall is fumigating the city as citizens walk around. In China, citizens were ordered to stay in their homes at night as health workers disinfected an entire city, which was ravaged by coronavirus. Trucks drove a

Police in Embakasi are holding two men suspected of defiling minors. The two are 56-year-old Josephat Munyua Festo suspected of defiling two children aged 10 and 11 and James Makori suspected of defiling a 13-year-old girl. Police constables Joseph Limakuru and Hawa Mohamed both attached to the Embakasi police station obtained custodial orders from Makadara law courts to detain the two suspects for 14 days. Makori is said to have defiled the minor on March 9 while Festo is alleged to have defiled his victims on February 29. The officers said investigations are slow because of coronavirus pandemic and getting medics to fill the required forms is difficult and they have to make bookings. The suspects will remain in custody until April 1. Makori had objected the application before senior resident magistrate Lewis Gatheru claiming the period is long while Festo claimed to have chest complications that he needed treatment for.

Every year, 3,000 Kenyan women develop fistula and at least 30,000 are living with the condition classified as a disability.  For close to 10 years of her life, Christine considered herself cursed because of a mysterious condition that made her unable to control her bowels.  Hailing from the Eastern part of Kenya in Ukambani, she was isolated by her community and her marriage fell apart.  "I didn't know what was wrong, I was embarrassed. I was not able to go to the toilet like other people. It happened without my control and made people not want to be near me," she said. Unknown to Christine, after childbirth, she had developed fistula, which saw her leak urine and sometimes stool.  "When it started, I would wear bedsheets because diapers are expensive and just stay in the house.  Raising my children was also a problem because of the condition," she said. Last year, she was informed by a friend about a medical camp that was going to be held at

A human rights group is calling on the government to direct its focus on Kenyans living in the slums as the country grapples with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Social Justice Centre Working Group (SJCWG) argues that the government’s measures to tackle the coronavirus do not take into consideration the varying levels of need, especially those of vulnerable populations in the country. "The Social Justice Centre Working Group is deeply concerned by the practicability of the health measures put in place," says the group in a statement, calling the measures a ''blatant disconnection'' with the reality of some sections of the population. HEALTH GUIDELINES According to the organisation, densely populated informal settlements may be unable to observe the government’s guidelines "even if their lives depended on it" owing to the structural challenges in the slums. The group faulted the government for its failure to take preventi