County officials led by Mombasa Health CeC Hazel Koitaba addressing journalists in Mombasa. [Photo/ Sande Vincent]
The Mombasa County Government has resolved to ban all unlicensed and uncertified food vendors following an outbreak of cholera in the county.The county government reached the decision after a consultative meeting held between officers from the department of health and the sub-county administration.During the meeting held at Mombasa County Hall on Thursday, the participants deliberated on measures that will curb the spread of cholera cases in all sub-counties in Mombasa.“Decision has been made to ban all unlicensed food vendors and water distributors operating without health certificates or any other permitting documents. We are doing this to save lives of people living in Mombasa from raging cholera and you can see the numbers in hospital,” said Mombasa Health CeC Hazel Koitaba.According to Koitaba, the ban which is expected to take effect on today (Friday) will be reinforced with the full force of the law.Koitaba further appealed to all licensed food vendors and distributors to maintain a high level of cleanliness.The CeC said the ban was a precautionary measure they took after it emerged that the cholera cases they are handling pointed to the consumption of food or water from unauthorised vendors.So far 32 cases chases of cholera have been reported in the county.