Makueni County Commissioner Maalim Mohammed has warned some 39 local bars reportedly notorious for operating outside the stipulated time and also flouting covid-19 rules that they risked imminent closure.
Mohammed revealed that the said bars have been operating past 7pm, which is against the Ministry of Health (MOH) guidelines on combating further spread of covid-19 in the country.
Consequently, the 39 bars out of the 4,000 bars operating in the county have since been served with a notice of closure should they continue contravening the law.
“We have bars facing closure for not observing Ministry of Health regulations, these bars have already been served with a notice and we will have no choice but to close them in case they don’t toe the line,” warned Mohammed, while addressing the media on Monday in his Wote boardroom.
Noting that entertainment joints are the super spreaders of covid-19 in the county, the county commissioner also said that no music will be played in the premises as revelers would mostly likely forget the laid down protocols as they danced to the rhythm.
The administrator also gave a breakdown of the notorious bars per sub-county including Makueni (14), Nzaui and Mukaa (7 each), Mbooni West (4), Kibwezi (3), Makindu (2) and Kathonzweni and Mbooni East (1) each.
At the same time, Mohamed disclosed that cases of covid-19 were on the increase in the county and called for a multi-agency approach to combat the pandemic that has impacted negatively on the country’s economy.
We have 122 active cases in the county whereby 27 are in health facilities across the county, while 92 are on home based care, 3 of them being at the Makueni GK Prison, he added.
The county commissioner reiterated that no political gatherings will be allowed and urged members of the public to disregard such meetings. He warned that those found in such forums risked immediate arrest
However, he lauded the churches and mosques for continually observing the Ministry of Health protocols on covid-19.
“We have no problem with our places of worship whether churches or mosques as their members sanitize, wear face masks, keep social distance and the third capacity sitting rule is largely obeyed,” said Mohamed.
By Ronald Rono
