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Hundreds of passengers, motorists stranded as police enforce cessation


Hundreds of passengers and motorists spent the night in the cold on Monday after they were barred from entering Nairobi county as police enforced cessation.

Majority of the passengers and motorists were denied entry into the capital after President Uhuru Kenyatta declared the cessation of movement in and out of Nairobi, Kilifi, Kwale and Mombasa counties for 21 days.

The President, while addressing the nation on Monday, said 82 per cent of Covid-19 have been in Nairobi and 14 per cent have been in the Coastal counties.

The cessation of movement started in Nairobi on Monday at 7pm, while that of the other counties will begin from Wednesday.

Roadblocks have been placed at Machakos at Small World, at Isinya, Kajiado North-Kiserian, Kajiado North-Ngong, Limuru-Mutarakwa, Lari-Uplands, Ruaka Kiambu Kamiti Corner, Kiambu (Fourways Junction), Gatanga- Kandara Junction and in Thika West at Landless.

Majority of those affected were at the Athi Bridge on Kangundo road, which borders Nairobi and Machakos counties.

Others who either spent the night out in the cold or were forced to turn back were at Small World along Mombasa road.

Some of the affected motorists said it was not their fault to be late.

“I have been stuck in the traffic jam for more than two hours and that is why I could not make it on time,” one motorist could be heard telling the police at a roadblock.

President Kenyatta announced the new raft of measures aimed at combating the spread of Covid-19, which has so far infected 158 people and claimed the lives of six patients in the country.

“Any person, passenger carrying bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, automobiles, vehicles, vessels, railway wagons or air crafts shall not be allowed in and out of the Nairobi Metropolitan Area and the counties of Kilifi, Kwale and Mombasa,” he said.

The head of state said the movement of food supplies and other cargo will continue as normal during the declared containment period through road, railway and air.

These additional measures do not in any way vary from the existing restrictions and measures, including the daily Nationwide Curfew from 7pm to 5am in the entire territory of the Republic of Kenya.