Following increased cases of covid-19 cases in Mombasa county, police officers from Nyali sub county have taken it upon themselves to sensitize residents in informal settlements about the infectious disease.
The officers dressed in uniform have started distributing face masks and sanitizers to the vulnerable residents.
The sensitization exercise, which was led by Nyali Corporal, Anthony Mwangi on Sunday also aimed at demystifying the role of the security officers in curbing the spread of the pandemic
Mwangi said civilians and police need each other in confronting the disease. “We want to show the residents that it is important to protect themselves without police enforcement by simply respecting the public health measures being spearheaded by the government,” he said.
He said their campaign was important so as to protect and ensure safety for the residents in informal settlements.
The Tamasamu Youth Organization Chief CEO, Vivian Jackton who joined the police in their campaign said, “We are doing this because communities living in the informal settlement are more vulnerable.”
Jackton said considering that there were high positive cases in Nyali Sub County, residents must be vigilant and ensure all precautionary measures are adhered to.
According to the youth leader, densely populated informal settlements are unable to observe the government’s guidelines such as social distancing owing to the structural challenges in the slums.
With restrictions on crowds it’s proving to be hard to control the situation in slum areas in Mombasa county as most of the amenities the densely populated area residents depend on are from Well-wishers, a situation that has therefore compromised government efforts towards combating the spread of the covid-19.
A resident from Shauri yako village, Kinara Samuel said residents here depend on almost everything from well-wishers during this period when the government is fighting covid-19.
He said the little money they make from casual jobs is spent on buying food and water for domestic use.
Meanwhile, youth in the area have castigated the extension of curfew and the cessation of movement pronounced by the president on Saturday.
Kinara, who is a jobless youth, argues that the government’s measures to tackle coronavirus do not take into consideration the varying levels of need, especially those of vulnerable populations in the country.
“We are likely to experience a wave of insecurity and more criminal groups sprouting up because most of the youth are now jobless, while the extension of dusk to dawn curfew will worsen the security situation in slums” he added.
By Hussein Abdullahi
