•Some restaurants will be allowed to operate while observing strict hygiene and spacing.
•State to activate enterprises across the country to manufacture basic medical equipment and supplies.
Image: COURTESY
Kenya's economy, virtually shut down by the coronavirus, will steadily and systematically reopen, President Uhuru Kenyatta has assured the country.
"We will achieve victory," the President said on Saturday, announcing a plan for the progressive and careful resumption of economic activities that have taken a devastating hit.
“I have spoken to most of our development partners and found a positive response. In the next week or two, billions of shillings will be added to our initiatives to offer direct relief to Kenyans,” he said in a nationwide address.
President Kenyatta directed the National Response Emergency Response Committee to map out the economic sectors and activities on the basis of infection risk.
This mapping when combined with increased testing and more exact contact tracing will decide how the economy will be progressively reopened.
“I am profoundly conscious of economic and livelihood distress that many Kenyans are facing at this moment,” the President said.
One immediate step from the work done so far, Uhuru said, is that a few restaurants and eateries will be allowed to reopen. These days they can only provide takeaway and many have closed.
These will only be the restaurants that show the highest levels of health regulation compliance, ability to test employees and undertake minimal operations while constantly mitigating against the spread of the coronavirus.
“Any report by the public or authorities that these establishments are not following the stipulated measures will lead to their instant closure and prosecutions,” the Head of State said.
The President said the country will reopen the economy but it must be in a way that does not endanger many thousands of lives.
“Some countries had initially succeeded in suppressing the pandemic, only for them to open up without a proper process and then suffer a huge spike in infections,” he said.
The President said aspects of the post-coronavirus economic recovery plan are already being progressively rolled out.
“My administration shall activate micro, small and medium enterprises across the country to manufacture basic medical equipment and supplies for domestic use and export,” he announced.
This initiative will be part of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda and will utilize Sh1.5 billion.
The Jua Kali sector will play a major role in production, while the country leverages its Technical Vocational Education Training Centres and the Constituency Industrial Development Centres.
He thanked the National Assembly for approving some proposed tax measures.
“We will now ensure that employees have more of their earnings available to them to spend, and reduce the corporate tax burden as an incentive to the business enterprises,” the President said.
These measures are expected to complement other government initiatives to minimise the negative impact of the coronavirus on the economy and on the welfare of the people.
“We are not going to be in this situation forever. There will come a day, in the not distant future, when we will have overcome the threat of this pandemic by being disciplined, patriotic and empathic. We will achieve victory," President Kenyatta said.
(Edited by V. Graham)