Panic has hit Parliament after reports emerged that 17 legislators and parliamentary staff have tested positive for Covid-19.
According to multiple sources, the Ministry of Health told the Speakers to cancel the special sitting of both Houses because some of the MPs had tested positive.
A number of MPs were randomly tested last week and their results came out on Monday, causing panic and anxiety in the bicameral House.
“They are suspecting 17 Members of Parliament have been tested and turned positive. The information is not clear but it’s members and staff. So that is the reason why the House was suspended,” a legislator said on condition of anonymity.
We cannot reveal their identities because it is against the law to reveal someone’s health status without their permission.
A senator told the Star the Speaker made the late evening announcement to protect other members from contracting the disease.
Senators, Members of the National Assembly and staff have been undergoing voluntary tests for Covid in Parliament Buildings since last week.
More than 200 members who have undergone the test, including the Speakers, have been receiving their individual results from the Ministry of Health.
But Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka discounted the claims as rumours, saying it was not easy to tell the condition of the members unless they personally said so as the results were issued privately.
The Speaker reiterated that they called off the sittings following the declaration of cessation of movement in Nairobi and its environs by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
