This archive report was first published on 2 July 2020.
On June 8, 2020, Kiambu MP Jude Jomo's mother, Margaret Njomo, fell ill and was rushed to The Mater Hospital in Nairobi, where she was pronounced dead.
However, the government had instructed the family to bury her within a stipulated period, claiming she had tested positive for COVID-19.
Tests done at the Lancet Labs on behalf of The Mater Hospital showed the late Margaret was positive, but two other tests at the National Influenza Centre and the Nairobi Hospital returned negative verdicts.
Speaking in the National Assembly, MP Jude Jomo demanded an explanation from the House Health Committee, saying the government's notification of his mother's positive test result was inaccurate.
‘I tried to beg for more time but in line with the law, we received a call at 3pm and buried her by 8pm, for the 82 years she had lived we felt that we did not give her the dignity,' the MP explained.
The Mater Hospital boss, Dominic Mwenje, told the Sabina Chege-led committee that neither did the institution reach out to Lancet nor follow up on the contentious results.
‘I believe that we didn’t contact Lancet about the negative result, being a national credited lab used by many hospitals and institutions, when the two returned negative results we did not follow up on this case,' Mwenje said.
MP Jude Jomo also raised concerns about the accuracy of COVID-19 tests, asking how many Kenyans have received wrong results and how many labs are careless.
