Not yet uhuru as Kenyans hungry, still angry and lost 57 years on

Nurses protest over poor working conditions. [File, Standard]

Fifty-seven years after independence, there is hardly anything to smile about for a majority of Kenyans whose lives have taken a beating in the course of 2020.

A rampaging virus that has left destruction in its wake, a fumbling government and an opportunist opposition have all combined to prove the steepest of obstacles standing between Kenyans and their aspirations of a better life.

As the virus rages on, affecting all aspects of life for Kenyans from the economy to the education sector to the simple pleasures of life like visiting relatives in the village over Christmas, the country can still not see any light at the end of the tunnel of what has been a long, dark year.

Jamhuri celebrations

When President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed an expectant nation on Saturday, Kenya crossed the 1,500 mark for Covid-19 related deaths. Another 500-plus tested positive for the virus and thousands had lost their jobs as a result of the effects of a slowed down economy.

But the pandemic could perhaps be the best thing to have happened to President Kenyatta’s government. For in the pandemic, his government found a believable excuse to pepper over a long list of broken promises made to the public.

The crippled health sector, allegedly on the mend since 2013, was exposed to be nothing but a bamboo frame on which the entire weight of the nation leaned on.

In August, it was disturbing to learn that only 516 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds existed in the entire nation. A number of counties, some with populations close to a million people, had no single ICU bed.

Yet, for more than half a century, Kenyans have diligently and willingly submitted their taxes to the State.

The pandemic, too, was used as a scapegoat to end an attempt in the fight against corruption.

But like most things that have happened in the two-term presidency of Uhuru, this too proved to be a game of smoke and mirrors. Highly publicised arrests were followed by a lacklustre attempt at prosecution that left the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and that of the Director of Criminal Investigations at logger heads.

In his Jamhuri Day speech last year, President Kenyatta alluded to the sacrifices made by the founding fathers of the nation.

“We honour those who gave their lives so that we could live free… The ideal of one Kenya, united strong and prosperous with freedom and justice for all,” he said.

Today, another set of heroes have given their lives, but with far less honour. They continue to give their lives to a cause they believe in, often dying without the glory tales of the hunters of yore, but with the indignity of what the country they thought had their backs has deteriorated into.

Stephen Mogusu, a 29-year-old, is the 14th doctor to die from the pandemic. Overall, more than 50 health care workers have died from Covid-19 related complications.

Yet when Mogusu was alive, his basic request, like those of his peers across the country for dignity in service went unanswered. Nearly a year into the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare workers are without Personal Protective Equipment.

Hundreds across the country continue to go without pay, serving only in obedience to their Hippocratic Oath and not in allegiance to the State that they ought to serve. A State that has abandoned them at every turn, ignored every call for help and swatted away their stretched hands whenever they have requested for assistance to get them back up on their feet.

It is not just the health care workers who feel betrayed. The country’s population now stands at 47 million people. Seventy-five per cent of these are aged between 18 and 35.

According to fact checking portal Africa Check, 11.4 per cent of this youthful population are without any meaningful employment. This has been the case for close to five years. But this year, the numbers grew significantly.

Economic shocks occasioned by Covid-19 have resulted in massive job losses. Small to medium size enterprises that ultimately bear the weight of developing a nation have shut down in droves.

The Federation of Kenya Employers estimates that at least 1.7 million jobs were lost in Kenya between March and August 2020 from 604 firms. Most of those laid off may never be reabsorbed again.  

Although this is a global phenomenon, solutions to this have been piecemeal and with little effect. Stimulus packages promised to business owners are yet to get to most of those affected. The government project to employ youth to do menial jobs such as cleaning up drainages is just but a drop in the ocean.

The Sh700 daily wage for the youth involved in the Kazi Mtaani initiative that was later reduced to Sh500 is hardly enough for many to survive on.

The promises of an industrialised nation and 800,000 jobs created every year, according to the Jubilee manifesto, now seems like a chapter out of a fantasy novel.

Realities have been harsh. But Kenyans have been ignored by offices that ought to have known and done better.

At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kenyatta’s government has thought it wise to prioritise the Building Bridges Initiative over the harsh realities of many Kenyans. A Sh14 billion budget for a referendum sometimes feels like a slap in the face for the doctors who are in need of only a fraction of this to feel adequately compensated and properly kitted to report to duty.

It may also feel like a slap in the face for teachers who, in two weeks’ time, may be reporting back to school ill-prepared and ill-equipped to deal with the challenges of containing spread of the virus in institutions when schools reopen.

A slap in the face to the small business owners who just this week saw the taxation cushions they were enjoying get lifted with no alternatives offered.

Yet, with these concerns, the political class has the BBI referendum at the top of its list. Nothing else matters. Nothing apart from self-preservation.

NARC Kenya leader Martha Karua has termed the BBI as “meaningless changes”.

Coronavirus emerged at a time of concern over the country’s politics.

The handshake between President Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga had already muddied the political waters. The pandemic presented yet another opportunity for the forging of unlikely allegiances and the purging of unwanted former allies.

The result of this has been catastrophic to the political debate in the country. A realignment and a rediscovery of allegiances have been fanned under the Corona cloud to develop into future associations.

The pandemic that has resulted in deaths and untold suffering of many Kenyans is being looked at by the political class as another opportunity to further selfish interest, widening the trust gap between the governors and the governed.

“There is a contrast between what the public views as most important and the solutions put forth by the political class,” political analyst Edward Kisiangani says.

In the despair, too, have been missed opportunities.

Opportunities by the State to galvanise the nation to rise up against a common enemy in the virus. While the public faced strict enforcement over the pandemic control measures, politicians, including the presidency as well as the legislators, operated in realms above the law.

Breaking all set social distancing norms by holding rallies across the country, being spotted in public without masks, and breaking curfew laws all led to a loss of trust by the public.

These acts fuelled further disillusionment of Kenyans with the State that is supposed to look out for them.

Hope and ambition remain dwarfed by the shadow of mounting debt.

Estimates collated from records made public by the Office of the President show that within the first 90 days of the pandemic, Kenya accrued a debt of close to Sh400 billion.

Official records show that a bulk of this money went towards lessening the Covid-19 load. Kenya’s Ministry of Finance says money has been sent out to vulnerable families across the country. Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani says a stimulus package aimed at empowering youth is making life-saving changes.

This is, however, hardly enough. Even with these interventions, the CS projects the country’s economy to grow by a modest 0.6 per cent. Other pundits forecast the growth at below zero.

A lack of clear direction wasn’t just relegated to Covid-19 control measures and the economy. Critical aspects of daily life have been affected as well.

An entire school calendar stands lost. Direction from the Ministry of Education has been unreliable at best. Decisions have been arrived at and rescinded in the space of hours with regard to reopening of schools.

From outside peeping in, it has sometimes looked like Ministry of Education officials have been operating on hunches and gut feeling. The science of the pandemic, it seems, has had very little effect on their decision making.

At the moment, science seems to be locked out of the room. Politics carries the day.

Wrong priority

While other countries are looking at data, trying to figure out who should be the first in accessing Covid-19 vaccines, ours is verifying signatures for a referendum at a cost of some Sh14 billion.

On March 22, 2020, just 10 days after Kenya announced her first Corona case, the virus-threatened nation turned to God for help in keeping the pandemic at bay.

Now, at least three vaccines have been declared safe for use. Yet none of this is spilling into ill- advised conversations during public rallies and the rhetoric is dominated by signature collection, not vaccine administration.

Fifty-seven years after independence, the struggles of Kenyans are yet to be addressed.

Although another Kenyatta is president, it is not yet uhuru for those pledging their allegiance to the flag of this nation.