Uasin Gishu hotel owners wants the government to offer free Covid-19 testing for their employees.

Uasin Gishu Hotel Owners Association have expressed their concern over the directive given that they should test every hotel employee for covid-19 citing that it is too expensive for them.

Speaking in Eldoret led by their Chairman Kevin Okwara, they said that the exercise is costly adding that the government should offer the COVID-19 testing for free since some of them have upto 100 employees.

“COVID-19 has rendered our businesses unprofitable now we cannot afford to pay the sh.1000 for testing for each employee after every two weeks as it is required” said Okwara

They said that Uasin Gishu has no corona virus testing facilities and if they were to take their staff for testing they said it is still a challenge.

“We have gone to various government institutions  to request whether they can do the testing but unfortunately none are committal,”  he said

Okwara further asked the government not to treat the industry unfairly since other businesses are ongoing. They want hotels be allowed to operate as they follow the government directives especially in counties that have not registered any or few COVID-19 cases.

“Counties that have registered  higher cases  of COVID-19  like Mombasa  and Nairobi should not be used  to dictate how  other counties are going  to run their affairs especially where no cases have been identified” he lamented

Okwara said most hotels are spacious adding that it is the only place where social distancing is ensured.

This comes after the government ordered the closure of all the hotels in the country to curb the widely spread COVID-19 pandemic.