Minister tells Kenyans to stop trolling coronavirus survivors

Kenya’s Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe has criticised Kenyans for their mockery of two Kenyans who recovered from coronavirus.

Kenyans online have criticised the announcement of the two recoveries on Wednesday – during a press conference – saying it was a publicity stunt by the government.

But Mr Kagwe disputed this.

“Why would a government in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) decide to make a PR exercise with two innocent Kenyans?” he asked.

The two Kenyans who gave their accounts of their recovery, Brenda Cherotich and Brian Orina, have been trending on Twitter since Wednesday.

Some have been praising them for creating awareness about the pandemic.

But a lot of the comments have been negative.

On Twitter, many have questioned what they consider inconsistencies in their stories. It has been especially bad for Ms Cherotich.

There are more posts about her, which the health minister has condemned.

“It is unpalatable, it is archaic and retrogressive for anybody to trivialise the lives of Kenyans. I condemn any person who would attempt to do so. I appeal to our enforcement agencies to arrest the social media user,” Mr Kagwe said.