GEORGE OWITI
Image: COURTESY
The government on Thursday put under quarantine 120 Kenyans evacuated from Garowe in Somalia.
Documents seen by the Star show the flight left Garowe at 5pm Thursday and landed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi at 8.30pm.
The passengers arrived aboard Dallo Company aircraft D3 0300 (HK).
Those evacuated include 53 teachers from a group of private schools who were stranded at Garowe in Somalia after their employer allegedly confiscated their travel documents.
The employer also refused to pay their air tickets back to Kenya.
Officials from the Health ministry received the passengers and took them to KMTC quarantine centre.
They will stay in quarantine for 14 days and be tested for coronavirus before being allowed to rejoin their families.
“We are in the government quarantine facility at KMTC in Nairobi. At least now we are in our mother country. We can enjoy despite being cashless, we are safe,” an evacuee told the Star by phone on Friday.
Barely a week ago, some teachers employed by Ahmed Ali, who runs a group of schools in Somalia, raised concerns and fear of contracting Covid-19 due to the pathetic conditions they were living under.
“I am a teacher working under a private school owned by Dr Ahmed Ali. I am in Garowe town in Somalia among other over 40 teachers, our contract ended though we were never paid one month salary despite having worked for it,” one of the teachers had earlier told the Star by the phone.
He said they were worried about the rising cases of coronavirus in Somalia and how vulnerable they were.
“There are evacuations going on but the boss who has our passports and air tickets is mishandling us. He has gone missing and we are unable to reach him,” he said.
Efforts by the Star to reach Ali were futile since he neither picked calls nor responded to our text messages.
The teachers were paid Sh20,000 ($200) per month.
“We are just congested in the teachers’ quarter. No going outside the gate because of our security,” one of the victims said.
The teachers taught in Yamays, Dawaad, and Rasasyr international schools in Galkayo, Garowe, and Bosaso in Somalia respectively.
Ali was compelled by the Kenyan ambassador to Somalia Lucas Tumbo to produce the teachers’ passports and process their travel documents after they raised the complaints.
Source: The Star
