By Okong’o Oduya
Busia County, Kenya: The Busia county government requires Ksh55M to put measures in place to prevent and control the Covid-19 virus in the County.
According to Busia’s Governor Sospeter Ojaamong, the county has developed two budgets seeking the support of Ksh 44 million from the national government while setting aside 11ksh million from their pocket to enable them to address the menace.
Statement from governor read on his behalf by deputy governor Moses Mulomi, Ojaamong said the budget allocated will cater to purchasing of medicine, equipping in the health sector and sensitizing people on protecting themselves from the pandemic.
“Busia county has prepared two budgets on coronavirus outbreak preparedness; one worthy 44Million which has been submitted to national emergency preparedness committee and we are waiting for the support and county budget on corona worthy 11Million where we are mobilizing resources to support our county,” Ojaamong said in a statement.
Ojaamong who is also the chairman of the committee task force on Corona said Busia County is among the 14 high-risk counties in the country with a stretch of 72 kilometers borderline with Uganda, there are extra measures that need to be done to prevent the disease from infecting its people.
He said his government in collaboration with the National government has already deployed trained health personnel at Malaba and Busia border points respectively and are screening every person entering the country through the borders where they have identified 2 isolation centers one at Busia border and one at Malaba border with a capacity of ten beds which will be used to quarantine any identified corona cases.
In his statement to the Press, Ojaamong said they are training more health workers on how to handle corona cases and will be deployed across the county health facilities.
“Busia county has put contingency emergency plans in preparedness in readiness and in order to prevent coronavirus spearhead,” the statement said.
He urged Kenyans to exercise a high standard of hygiene by washing hands with running water, avoid crowded placed, body contacts and also report any suspected corona cases.
Besides the 2 locations, Busia county corona Emergency committee has also identified one of the health facilities at the Buyosi health center in the county that will be used to treat any cases that will be identified.
In the task force that was chaired by Busia’s deputy governor Moses Mulomi on behalf of the governor and Matayos sub-county deputy county commissioner Joseph Onyango, the committee agreed to sensitize the public on how they can keep themselves safe from the killer disease by maintaining self-hygiene among other measures.
The committee agreed to engage all local administration and local media to pass the message on the coronavirus to people across the county beside coming up with an emergency toll-free number to allow Kenyans to report any suspected case to the relevant authorities as one way of demystifying wrong information going round on social media.
The committee raised concerns on controlling all night clubs, joints and public gatherings in Busia to limit possibilities of spreading the disease adding that Busia being along the border, the Kenyan security agencies will work closely with the Ugandan counterparts to make sure that they too stop night clubs and joints.
The committee agreed to set up tents and trained personnel at every entry point besides the gazetted routes such as Marachi, Sofia, Bulanda, and Buteba to screen every individual coming into the county.
Church leaders and other institutions in the county, both public and private institutions and business people are required to provide sanitization zones in their premises where people will be able to clean up their hands with clean running water with soap.
“We are calling upon every stakeholder including churches, business premises and government entities to provide areas where people seeking for services in those areas to wash their hands to prevent possibilities of contracting the disease,” said Mulomi
The committee assured people of Busia that there is a stand by ambulance that will respond to any case within the county that will require special attention.
Currently, Kenya has confirmed seven cases of COVID-19, this makes the country among approximately 140 countries that have reported the pandemic worldwide.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 5,700 people globally have died from COVID-19, while more than 152,000 infections globally.
Busia County is yet to report any case of the coronavirus within its border.
