Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya has announced a raft of socio-economic measures to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic.
Mvurya announced waiver on penalties for land rates and interests for single businesses, suspension of charges for market entry fees and suspension of market stall fees.
Others include the suspension of monthly parking fees for matatus, tuk tuks, and boda bodas and the suspension of daily parking fees for private motor vehicles.
The county boss also revealed that his administration has also acquired two new tractors bringing the total number of county tractors to 44.
He directed that all these tractors should plough for the local farmers spread in the 20 wards free of charge.
“All these measures will apply in the next 60 days beginning April 1, 2020,” he declared outside his Kwale office.
Mvurya spoke on Wednesday outside the county headquarters in Kwale town after chairing a joint county and national government covid-19 emergency response committee meeting.
He went on ‘in our view we consider these as key areas that support the small businesses in our county”.
He said apart from these measures the county government has also acquired 100 tons of maize seeds that have been distributed to 1500 framers across the county as a midterm measure of supporting the people to be food sufficient.
The governor commended public health officers, community health workers and volunteers for their dedication in sensitizing the community on the coronavirus pandemic.
Mvurya who was flanked by the Kwale County Commissioner Karuku Ngumo asked the people to support the county and national government efforts in curbing the spread of the covid-19.
“While our health workers and security agencies are doing everything possible to secure the communities, the biggest responsibility lies with the people themselves,” he said.
He urged residents to abide by all the health guidelines being issued by the two levels of government so as to break the cycle of infection and defeat the coronavirus disease.
“As it has been said many times, the virus does not move but people move it,” he noted adding that people should avoid crowding in public spaces.
A fortnight ago, the coastal county confirmed one positive case of coronavirus with the patient a French tourist having left the country since.
By Hussein Abdullahi
