Kenya, UK hold meeting in the midst of deteriorating diplomatic relations

By Samuel Ouma

Kenya’s Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo and UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Wednesday held talks to deliberate on the Covid-19 travel ban.

In Kenya, the British High Commission revealed through a tweet that the two leaders spoke via phone and agreed on the formation of a joint committee to address the travel restrictions.

“Positive call this morning between UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Raychelle Omamo. They discussed the strength of our relationship on trade, regional security, and health and agreed to establish a Joint Committee to work together on addressing COVID-19 travel restrictions,” the British High Commission said.

Last week the UK added Kenya to its red list of countries whose members were banned from traveling to the country due to a surge in Covid-19 cases.

In a letter to Kenyan Foreign Ministry, the British Commission said the decision was driven by a review of the latest scientific evidence pertaining to the risk of community transmission of COVID- 19 variants.'

In response, Kenya canceled all passenger flights from the UK effective April 9.

In line with Kenya's government directive, Kenya Airways suspended its flights to the European country until further notice.

Passengers were asked to change bookings for later travels or request a refund with all penalties waived.