Section 73 of Public Health Act CAP 242: Rules concerning port health matters

The Minister may make rules—
(a) prescribing the powers and duties of port health officers and the procedure to be followed in the examination of, and the granting of pratique to, vessels, and requiring every master of a vessel on arrival at any port or place in Kenya to furnish a declaration of health in respect of the existence or suspected existence on board, in any person, animal or thing, of any infectious disease, or any other disease which the Minister may notify in the Gazette, prescribing the form of declaration, and empowering any port health officer or other duly authorized officer to require the master of any vessel to verify upon oath the statements in the declaration and to administer the necessary oaths; such rules may prescribe modified requirements or procedure in respect of vessels arriving at a second or subsequent port of call in Kenya on the same voyage;
(b) requiring the master of any vessel having or suspected of having on board the infection of any infectious disease, or which has recently touched at any port or place which is a proclaimed place or is infected with any formidable epidemic disease or is situated near any place which is so infected, to furnish lists of passenger, crew or cargo, and prescribing the information to be given in any such list;
(c) prescribing the measures which shall be taken by masters of vessels to prevent the migration of rodents to or from vessels;
(d) prescribing the measures which shall be taken for the disinfection of, or the destruction of rats, mice or insects in, vessels, the disposal of bilge or other water on board, the cleansing of vessels, the provision of a supply of pure water on board, and for preventing the pollution of the water of the port with excreta and manure or any infective or offensive matter;
(e) as to the grant, refusal or withdrawal of pratique to vessels and the detention in quarantine of vessels having or suspected of having on board in any person, animal or thing, the infection of any infectious disease, or of persons suffering from, or who have recently been exposed to the infection of, any such disease;
(f) as to the prohibition or restriction of intercourse of persons on or
from the land with vessels, where deemed necessary in order to prevent the spread of infectious disease;
(g) requiring the disinfection of any article or thing contaminated, or believed to be contaminated, with the infection of any infectious disease, on board of or landed from any vessel, or, if such article or thing is of such a nature that it cannot be so disinfected, prohibiting the landing or providing for the destruction thereof;
(h) requiring the vaccination, before landing from any vessel, of any person who may have recently been exposed to the infection of smallpox and who does not produce evidence to the satisfaction of the port health officer of successful vaccination during the five years immediately preceding;
(i) appointing such sanitary anchorages as may be necessary for the purposes of this Act:
Provided that until other provisions are made the sanitary station at Zanzibar shall be a sanitary station for the purposes of any rules made or deemed to be made under this Act;
(j) providing for the recovery from masters or owners or agents of vessels of all reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by the Government, or of charges in accordance with a prescribed tariff of charges, or for the furnishing by them of guarantees in respect of the payment of such expenses or charges—
(i) in dealing with any person who is on board or has recently been landed and who is suffering, or suspected to be suffering, from any infectious disease or from any other disease which the Minister may notify in the Gazette;
(ii) in connexion with the detention in quarantine of any vessel infected with, or the isolation, accommodation, care and treatment of any person suffering from, or who has been exposed to the infection of, any infectious disease, and the detention and repatriation of any such person if he is prohibited from entering Kenya under any law relating to immigration;
(iii) in eradicating the infection of any infectious disease in any vessel, or in any article or thing on board of any vessel, or in any article or thing which though landed therefrom, was infected before it was landed;
and the Minister may, by notice in the Gazette, prescribe tariffs of charges which shall be payable by masters or owners or agents of vessels in respect of any of the services aforesaid, but every such tariff, shall be fixed as nearly as may be on the basis of average cost;
(k) as to the departure from Kenya, whether by land or sea, of all persons or of persons of any specified class or description, or of persons from any specified locality or place, and as to the restrictions to be imposed on persons leaving Kenya, in relation to medical examination, disinfection or otherwise;
(l) as to the exportation or removal from Kenya, whether by land or sea, of any article or thing considered likely to convey the infection of any infectious disease, and the examination, detention, disinfection or otherwise of any such article;
(m) for securing and maintaining cleanliness and efficient sanitation and preventing or remedying any nuisance or danger to health from overcrowding or otherwise on board of any vessel or within any port or harbour;
(n) as to the inspection of food on board vessels or at any port of Kenya and the destruction or safe disposal of any diseased or unsound or unwholesome meat or food intended for human consumption, or of any article of food or drink likely to convey any infectious disease, if such article is on board any vessel or within any port or harbour, and providing for the recovery of any expense incurred by the Government in so doing;
(o) as to the disinfection of any second-hand clothing, bedding, rags or any similar article imported by sea, and the recovery from the owner thereof or his agent of all expenses incurred by the Government in connexion therewith,
and generally for better carrying out the provisions and attaining the objects and purposes of this Part.

Disclaimer: This document is not to be taken as legal advice.

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