Senator James Orengo Shares His Covid-19 Test Results on Twitter

Following reports that at least 17 MPs tested positive for the coronavirus disease, Siaya Senator James Orengo has publicly displayed his Covid-19 test results.

Orengo, who doubles up as the Senate minority leader, posted a photo of his results on his Twitter page on Wednesday.

The test carried out by Lancet Kenya, a private laboratory commissioned by Parliament to conduct Covid-19 tests on MPs, returned negative.

“I took a voluntary COVID-19 test on Friday last week. The result was directly conveyed to me in person by a doctor. Tested Negative,” Senator Orengo tweeted.

He added: “As a nation and a people we are in this together and must confront COVID-19 as an army. Fear of the virus should not be turned into stigma but into a resolve to fight the pandemic. Count me in the army.”

On Wednesday, Health Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Dr. Mercy Mwangangi said the Health Ministry was yet to receive any official communication from parliament about MPs who tested positive for the virus.

“As it stands today and at this time, we have no official reporting of these cases to the Ministry of Health,” said Dr. Mwangangi during a media briefing.

Lancet Kenya on Wednesday also dismissed the reports as incorrect and misleading.

“Our attention has been drawn to the information circulating in the media about the recent testing for COVID-19 at Parliament grounds… The purported information circulating in the media about COVID-19 confirmed cases at Parliament is incorrect, misleading and should be disregarded,” the laboratory said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Any person who turns positive for COVID-19 is informed individually by the doctors. In addition, the Ministry of Health is the only authority mandated to release COVID-19 positive results to the public.”

Murang’a Senator Irungu Kang’ata and MPs Imran Okoth (Kibra) Caleb Kositany (Soy) and Caleb Amisi (Saboti) have since come out to declare that they tested negative for Covid-19.