Africa-Press – Kenya. Wearing of face masks is not a mandatory requirement for voting, the Ministry of Health has said.
Health CS Mutahi Kagwe on Monday dismissed reports in sections of the media that the ministry had issued an advisory for voters who turn up without masks to be turned away from polling stations when the country goes to vote on Tuesday.
He said wearing of a face masks in open public spaces remains optional.
“The Ministry has not made the use of face masks mandatory during the voting process and wearing face masks remains optional as per our earlier directive,” Kagwe said.
The ministry in March announced that wearing of masks in public places had been lifted.
However, wearing of masks in all indoor functions, in person worship, indoor meetings and while boarding a matatu, train or plane is still encouraged.
Kagwe further said that all in-person worship would resume at full capacity as long as the congregants are vaccinated.
The CS urged the interfaith council to develop protocols to facilitate the resumption of full congregational worship.
On Tuesday, August 9, some 22,120,458 voters will wake up to go and cast their votes in Kenya’s 7th general election since the introduction of multipartism in 1992.
The number includes 7,483 prisoners and 10,444 voters who will cast their ballots in Kenyan embassies and missions in the diaspora.
The voters will be choosing leaders across six elective seats; the president, governor, senator, member of National Assembly (MP), woman representative and ward representative (MCA).
The voting will take place across 46,229 polling stations gazetted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
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