•You risk being arrested and jailed for six months or fined Sh20,000 if you are found travelling with more than two people in a car, even your family car.
•And if you decide to use a taxi, you can only travel alone with the driver.
Image: MAGRET WANJIRU
You risk being arrested and jailed for six months or fined Sh20,000 if you are found travelling more than two people in your family car.
If you use a taxi, it's just you and the driver.
The aim is to maintain social distancing and prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The government has outlawed carrying of more than two people, including the driver, in a five-seater car. This law applies in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kiifi and Kwale counties only.
A seven-seater vehicle will only be allowed to carry the driver and two others.
These are among the stringent measures gazetted by Health CS Mutahi Kagwe to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
The notice states that no licensed vehicle, including a sedan, will carry more than 50 per cent of its capacity.
“Private vehicles shall not carry more than 50 per cent of the licensed capacity,” reads the Gazette notice dated April 6.
The new rules will pose a challenge to most middle-income families who own and use five-seater cars to travel to markets, supermarkets, upcountry and other places.
University don and lawyer Nyakundi Nyamboga says the 50 per cent requirement implies that only two, including the driver, will be carried in the five-seater car.
“It is an offence to carry more than 50 per cent of the licensed capacity - the number of passengers – five or seven. What is 50 per cent of five or seven or seven, since we do not have half-humans?” Nyamboga asked.
The offence, according to the Gazette notice, also includes failure to wear a mask in your car or matatu or not maintaining a distance of one metre between yourself and others.
Government spokesperson Cyrus Oguna said the Gazette notice is "now the law" and that the police will use it to arrest and press charges in court.
National Police Service spokesperson Charles Owino said police will immediately enforce the new rules and charge offenders.
“I need to consult if we can charge people based on a Gazette notice. But the work of the police is to enforce any order. This being an emergency, it will come into force with immediate effect,” Owino said.
Nyamboga says it will be an offence to violate any gazetted rules.
The police, he said, will be free to enforce the rules – arrest and charge offenders and even detain vehicles whose owners or operators violate them.
“The police are empowered by the rules to detain your vehicle for the period of containment pending your arraignment in court,” he said.
Constitutional lawyer Bobby Mkangi said the rules are enforceable because the Health CS is legally mandated by the Public Health Act to develop such regulations.
“The police can act now because the regulations have been gazetted by a person who is legally mandated to gazette them,” he said.
(Edited by V. Graham)