Keroche Wins Round Two in Sh9 Billion Tax Row With
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. NO1 Tuesday, March 17, 2020 www.pd.co.ke // www.epaper.peopledaily.co.ke NO.07025 Kenya’s FREE Newspaper Corona grounds courts as public service suffers VIRUS IMPACT AT A GLANCE MICHAEL JOSEPH Tariffs reduced by telcos to encourage cashless transactions as advised by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday. AMINA MOHAMMED National library services and archives offices to remain closed for the next 30 days, sports centres also to remain shut. FARIDA KARONEY Lands registries countrywide to be closed as ministry assess impact of the virus, announces CS Farida Karoney. CYRUS OGUNA Testing services extended to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) centres in Busia, Kisumu, Kericho and Kilifi. WYCLIFFE OPARANYA Kakamega County shuts public morgues, bans funeral disco and public gatherings. Hawkers at the Mama Ngina-Moi Avenue junction in Nairobi, sell face masks to pedestrians. Hawkers made brisk business as masks were selling for between Sh100 and Sh150. PD/KENNA CLAUDE ALEXANDER MUTESHI Immigration services scaled COVID-19 down and will only handle Paralysis: Thousands of litigants stranded, emergency cases. major state functions crippled, boarding Hot Lines TWALIB MBARAK > 0800721316 Scales down operations for the next schools start closing as impact of virus > 0729471414 14 days and suspends services at all > 0732353535 Huduma Centres. begins to be felt across the country PGS 2-13 > 719 Business Hub PG 15 Keroche wins round two in Sh9 billion tax row with KRA 2 NEWS BEAT PEOPLE DAILY / Tuesday, March 17, 2020 POINTERS WEATHER TODAY NEWS BEAT PAGE 14 WORLD PAGE 18 Nairobi 25° Nyeri 24° hen rogue police, udges iden pledges to pick woman Mombasa 32° Kitui 27° collude to frustrate ustice if he wins emocratic race Kisumu 29° Wajir 38° “Any emergencies will handled by our customer care desks. The closure will al- low for further consultation and design of Partial lockdown as public appropriate measures to protect staff and members of the public, ” Karoney said on her Twitter account. At the same time, the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC) an- offices scale down operations nounced the scaling down of its activities and operations for the next 14 days. The EACC chief executive Twalib Mbarak From courts to Immigration, said the anti-graft agency had suspended government departments all its services at Huduma Centres across the country. announce massive reduction The situation was replicated in many of services offered to tame government offices where services were scaled down by about 50 per cent, with spread of novel coronavirus only those employees providing essential services being retained. by People Daily Team On Sunday, President Kenyatta while @PeopleDailyKe outlining measures to be taken after an- nouncing that the country had confirmed The country yesterday experienced a two more corona cases to bring the number major reduction of official activities as to three, urged government departments, public institutions scaled down their op- businesses and companies to allow some erations in a bid to reduce the spread of the employees to work from home. coronavirus. “Where possible, government offices, The scaling down followed President businesses and companies are encouraged Uhuru Kenyatta’s Sunday directive as the to allow employees to work from home, country fights to tame the spread of the with the exception of employees working deadly virus after two more cases were in critical or essential services,” the Presi- confirmed. dent stated. And last evening, Government spokes- He also encouraged Kenyans to embrace man Colonel (Rtd) Cyrus Oguna an- cashless transactions such as mobile mon- nounced that at least 20 Kenyans have ey transfer and credit cards to avoid con- been admitted to hospital with suspected tamination. symptoms of the virus. Three of the patients are awaiting test Cashless transfers results while 14 have been isolated before Yesterday, telecommunications opera- being tested. Two patients have so far been tors heeded the President’s call and lowered discharged testing negative for the virus, mobile money transaction fees in a bid to Oguna said. encourage uptake of cashless transfers. “Apart from the three confirmed cases, “Safaricom PLC would like to thank the the country has not reported any further Central Bank of Kenya Governor Dr Patrick case. Out of the three cases, two are im- Njoroge for hosting a meeting with Safari- port cases while one is a local one that com and other industry players to discuss was in contact with the first case,” Oguna the evolving situation around the Covid-19 said. pandemic,” said Safaricom CEO Michael As part of the measures to contain the Joseph and announced an increase of daily spread of the virus, Oguna said health fa- People stranded at the Immigration GLOBAL NUMBERS M-Pesa transactions limit. cilities in 35 counties have been elevated to HAVI Department in Nairobi in after agency Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mo- a status that they are fully prepared to deal suspended some of its services, Coronavirus infections outside China hammed directed the Kenya National with the virus. yesterday. PD/ TIMOTHY NJENGA pass 87,000; case numbers in China stand Library Services and all public libraries, Operations in courts across the country at 80,860. National Museums, Kenya National Ar- remained largely paralysed following Chief tions at 8am were stranded at the main en- chives and Documentation Service, Kenya Justice David Maraga’s directive suspend- Apart trance. They protested Maraga’s decision Tanzania on Monday became the latest Cultural Centre and the Kenya Academy ing judicial proceedings countrywide. The to suspend operations “without issuing East Africa country to confirm its first case of Sports to be closed to the public for 30 directive took effect yesterday when courts from the specific directions”. (See story page 4) of coronavirus, as neighbouring countries Days. remained closed, with the public not being Elsewhere, Kenyans generally avoided shuttered borders and schools as fears of “All public sporting facilities will also re- contagion rose. allowed into the compounds. three government offices, with departmental main closed to the public, for the next 30 heads announcing suspension of servic- Somalia also recorded its first case, ac- days,” the CS said. Serious cases con- es for two weeks while the private sector County assemblies also suspended sit- Cases involving traffic offences, fraud, cording to the country’s health minister, grappled with ways to cope with the dis- Fowsiya Abukar. tings with the County Assemblies Forum theft, assault, corruption, creating distur- firmed ruption. directing staff to work from home, except bance and incitement to violence were A spot-check on various government Ghana banned public gatherings includ- for crucial matters and the service depart- handled at respective police stations. cas- offices, notably the Directorate of Immi- ing conferences, funerals, political rallies ment. The more serious cases of murder, man- gration Services, Kenya Revenue Authority and religious activities. “All County Assemblies across the coun- slaughter, attempted murder, robbery with es, the (KRA) and Huduma Centre found many of try suspend House sittings as well as the sit- violence and sexual offences were placed the offices unusually deserted. In South Africa, President Cyril Ramapho- tings of their committees and other opera- before duty judges and magistrates for country The normally crowded streets of Nairo- sa said the country would close its borders tions from tomorrow, Tuesday, March 17, mention. bi, Mombasa, Eldoret, Nakuru and Kisumu to all foreigners from countries highly 2020 for the next 15 days in a bid to arrest “It is not one of the best situations we has not were largely empty after many people kept impacted. the spread of the virus,” the forum said in have found ourselves in, though we have away for fear of contracting the virus, or a statement. to adhere to the directive. Otherwise noth- were grappling with the sudden closure of necessary after the President banned non- In western Kenya, the Kakamega County ing is moving and several cases have not reported schools. essential foreign travel. “Our services are government ordered the closure of public been heard,” Law Society of Kenya (LSK) Immigration Department Director Gen- out of offer for the next 30 days,” he said. mortuaries as a measure of reducing the president Nelson Havi said. any fur- eral Alexander Muteshi told People Daily Lands and Physical Planning Cabinet risk of coronavirus transmission. At the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, they had suspended most of their opera- Secretary Farida Karoney ordered the clo- Governor Wycliffe Oparanya asked lo- hundreds of people who had jammed the ther case tions, adding that issuance of passports sure of all land registries for 28 days begin- cals to collect kins’ bodies from Kakamega place for cases listed for hearing and men- and immigration controls were no longer ning this morning. County mortuaries for immediate burial. Tuesday, March 17, 2020 / PEOPLE DAILY #WHACKYWORLD 3 with WhackyGuy254 @WhackyGuy254 Energy minister presser on blackouts disrupted by blackout India’s minister for energy was left with egg on the face af- Coronavirus ter a power outage disrupted his press conference. Ironically, the minister was reassuring the country that everything was meeting called off in perfect shape after complaints of frequent outages. The media interaction had been organised after a public outcry, due to coronavirus and Energy minister Priyvrat Singh was in the middle of brag- ging about the government’s achievements in the power sec- In an uncanny twist of irony, tor when a sudden blackout left him red-faced and journalists The USA’s Council on Foreign Rela- burst into laughter. The presser was delayed until power sup- tions has canceled a roundtable ply was restored. called “Doing Business Under Coronavirus” scheduled this week in New York, US, due to the fears of the spread of the infection.