We’re losing this battle in Kenya, and we’re losing it fast! But the Englishman says that if you must fail, fail fast so that you can pick yourself up and possibly beat the time. However, with the level of ignorance currently displayed by some Kenyans, there might be no time to pick ourselves up and flatten the curve on time.
While the government acted expeditiously giving us a considerable headstart that we could all have exploited and salvaged many lives and the national economy, most Kenyans seem to be taking the outbreak quite lightly; ignoring simple government directions such as social distancing and self-isolation for those who needed to.
With the Country having recorded 25 cases and counting, with little options that could allow people to work from home, it appears the only way out at this point is a drastic lockdown that comes with a subsidized meal on the table. The lockdown could be executed in a way that could hurt the people less economically, cut the spread of the disease and keep the national economy steady.
Steps To Save Kenya
Week One:
1️⃣ Keep the Airport shut
2️⃣ Start dispatching tons of relief food across all counties for distribution to anyone over the age of 60 (check for symptoms during this delivery and isolate any suspected case).
3️⃣Remove VAT on food and medicine and meet the manufacturers halfway in price, and start selling foodstuffs such as maize flour, cooking oil and sugar at a subsidized price of half the usual retail price.
Week Two
4️⃣Impose a 6am to 5pm curfew/lock-down for two weeks
(Shops to open between 5pm and at 9pm.)
5️⃣ Establish mobile medical camps in every village, taking vital signs and other basic tests that may be needed to determine a need for further testing.
Week Three
6️⃣After two weeks, all gatherings remain banned for two months, businesses open fulltime but get a two-month tax break to recover from the two-week lockdown, open travel to and from countries that will have a 30day record of 100% recovery and zero positive cases.
7️⃣Require medical reports for new Kenyan Visa applicants.
Stay safe Kenyans and let’s hope we shall get through this tide together. Remember, if you don’t obey the rules, you might not live to see how this ends.
We can do this! We are enough!
About the author:
Thuothuo is a Kenyan living in the USA, a cybersecurity professional from the University of Southern New Hampshire, and a Jamhuri News editor