BY SAM ALFAN.
Director of Health at Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) Dr Ouma Oluga risks being jailed after a businessman threatened to file contempt of court proceedings against him for allegedly disobeying a court order over a directive of Covid-19 restrictions.
In a demand letter, Joseph Aura said a directive issued on January 5, 2022 asking for the compliance with non-existent and unlawful “directive” of December 22, 2021 by the Ministry of Health denying in-person services to unvaccinated persons.
Through lawyer Harrison Kinyanjui, Aura says the content of the said memo by Dr Oluga violates a court order that suspended the government directive requiring proof of Covid-19 vaccination before getting in-person services.
He said Justice Anthony Mrima’s order issued in December is still in force pending the determination of his case. Kinyanjui said the order was extended when the case came up for mention.
Dr Oluga issued a memo to 17 Nairobi County sub-county medical officers of health directing that all persons seeking in-persons must show proof of vaccination.
“All persons seeking in person government services in all Nairobi city County health facilities should be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and provide proof of vaccination,” the memo stated.
In the demand letter, Aura says Dr Oluga has no such mandate either in the Health Act or the constitution of Kenya and the court order is binding. He asked him to comply with the court injunction immediately.
“You have NO such mandate either under Health Act or the constitution of Kenya and we bring to your kind attention the express contents of paragraph 1 of the court order issued on December 14,2021 in Nairobi high court petition No. 505 of 2021 forbidding the imposition of such preconditions as you have purported to impose,” Aura said.
Aura threatened to file contempt of court proceedings, if Dr Oluga fails to comply with the demand letter and desist imposing preconditions of “Covid-19 Vaccination” on Kenyan to access in-person government’s health services and medical facilities in Nairobi.
