• Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government said there is no passenger plane that is landing in Kenyan airspace and thus such reports can only be "fabricated and an imagination".
• The Daily Nation had run a story indicating that the Chinese government was set to evacuate 400 of its nationals from Kenya, with the first batch of 200 having left on Tuesday at 11pm over fears of Covid-19.
Image: COURTESY
Kenya has refuted claims that some 200 Chinese nationals left the country on Tuesday night.
Through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government said there is no passenger plane that is landing in Kenyan airspace and thus such reports can only be "fabricated and an imagination".
The Daily Nation had run a story indicating that the Chinese government was set to evacuate 400 of its nationals from Kenya, with the first batch of 200 having left on Tuesday at 11pm over fears of Covid-19.
According to the story, the evacuees had procured their tickets on Sunday night but because of the social-distancing rule, all could not fit in the China Southern Airlines plane.
Quoting their lawyer, the story indicated that the remaining 200 would leave in the course of the week.
The story alleged that lawyer Isaac Okinyo said the final arrangements were made after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave him the go-ahead to evacuate his clients.
The story alleged the Chinese obtained an order from the High Court directing the Kenyan government to allow them to leave on June 16, arguing that Kenya’s health system does not have the capacity to handle the Covid-19 pandemic.
Justice Weldon Korir was cited as having issued the orders after the Chinese sought special permission to allow evacuation flights to take them home.
They argued that Kenya’s health system cannot handle huge infection numbers in the event that the pandemic spreads rapidly in the country.
“They have underlying conditions and others just don’t feel safe here,” the lawyer is quoted as saying. “
According to the story, the group, mainly living in Nairobi, was expected to be led by the Chinese ambassador to Kenya Wu Peng, who has been recalled to Beijing.
But Director of Communications at the Ministry Jane Kariuki termed the reports baseless.
"In fact as I speak to you, we are demanding an apology from that newspaper. How can they publish a story full of lies," Kariuki said on the phone.
She said the story indicated that the lawyer had written a letter to the ministry on Saturday and to her, yet their offices are not operational on weekends.
"Secondly, there is no passenger plane that is landing in the country, so how did a Chinese plane land in our airspace without the authorities' consent," she posed.
Kariuki argued that if there is any evacuation plan for Chinese nationals, it would be done through the embassy in line with the laid down Covid-19 protocols.
"We have information that the said lawyer has been pushing for such fabricated stories...," she said.
Her sentiments were echoed by the Chinese Embassy in Kenya which said there is no passenger flight to China this week.
"The embassy firmly reiterates that the reports on DN about Chinese taking flights back are false. There is no passenger flight to China this week. The claims that 200 Chinese flew out last night via China SA flight is totally false and based on the reporter's imagination," the Embassy spokesperson Huang Xueging said.
With regards to the redeployment of Ambassador Wu, she said it was true that the ambassador was preparing to leave Kenya.
"This is a normal transfer but the departure date has not been confirmed,” Huang said.