Lobby group urges government to fully open economy
The One Voice One People forum has urged the government to step up the Covid-19 vaccination exercise among Kenyans.
This, the lobby group asserts, will aid in ensuring the full opening of the country’s economy. This as sectors such as transport and entertainment yet to be fully functional for more than a year.
The group shared these suggestions on Labour Day, hours after President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the cessation of movement he’d earlier ordered within the five (diseased) counties of Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru, Kajiado, and Machakos had been lifted.
The Head of State also extended the dawn to dusk curfew hours in these counties by two hours to commence at 10 pm.
He also partially opened hotels and bars.
Without a commensurate investment in scientific and medical mitigation measures such as boosting vaccination numbers and equipping our hospitals, we cannot celebrate this short-lived and conditional freedom,” the lobby group pointed out in a statement seen by Nairobi News.
We are yet to see any measures aimed at alleviating poverty and offering relief to the millions of stressed individuals who are enduring the pain of rising commodity prices, inflated electricity bills, rents and
foreclosures and socially depressed households.”
The government has vaccinated less than one million people out of an estimated 50-million Kenyans.
The lobby group mainly consists of stakeholders drawn from the hospitality industry, including those working in hotels and entertainment spots.
The group has also demanded a full and unconditional reopening of the economy.
The eased measures have been enforced for more than a month now, leading to the loss of thousands of jobs in the informal sector.
Kenya has so far registered about 160,000 positive Covid-19 cases, without about 2700 deaths and 109,000 recoveries.