Police not allowed to arrest lone motorists not wearing face masks

Government spokesman Cyrus Oguna. COURTESY: Daily Nation

The police are not supposed to arrest lone individuals who are not wearing face masks while inside their private cars.

Government spokesman Cyrus Oguna, who was responding to a journalist’s question, made the clarification during a press conference at Ministry of Health headquarters.

There have been reports of police officers arresting lone motorists who had not been wearing face masks while in their private vehicles as the government continues to enforce regulations to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The government has already published a law which imposes a fine of Sh20,000 and a six-month jail sentence, or both, for anyone found not wearing a mask in public as a preventative measure against the spread of COVID-19.

“They are not supposed to arrest anyone in their private cars but they are supposed to encourage anybody in their private cars to come out wearing that (face) mask and that’s how we can be able to achieve that practice,” Oguna said.

Oguna noted that the culture of wearing face masks was a new one and needed some time to adjust to and it was necessary to find a way to ensure that it was adhered to.

“If you are stepping out of your mask, you must step out of your house with a mask on, but we do understand, too, that a private vehicle is not necessarily a public place. In order for us to cement that culture (of wearing face masks in public), to cement that practice so that each and every time we are stepping in a public place, we have the mask on, then we must find a way by which we can be able to achieve compliance,” Oguna said.

Oguna said that the police were trying to encourage people who were in their private vehicles to have their masks on so that they do not leave the vehicles without the mask on.

“If compliance was not encouraged, the likelihood of leaving that mask in your car is very, very high,” Oguna added.

Kenya has so far recorded a total of 912 COVID-19 cases and 50 deaths and 336 recoveries from the virus.

Source(s): Ministry of Health