Food supplies must be allowed to continue flowing and people must be allowed to go shopping and the sick to seek health services without their limbs being broken by brutal police officers. If it does and chooses to impose a lockdown, certain things must be made crystal clear. If leaders exist to do the people’s bidding if democracy is the rule of the majority, government must listen to these voices. These countries will most likely defeat the virus ahead of us if we stay on the current path.Īnd who said Kenyans are afraid of a lockdown? Majority - 68 per cent of the population - believes a lockdown is the weapon that will defeat this pandemic, according to a poll by Infotrak Research and Consulting. South Africa, Rwanda and Zimbabwe are on lockdown. That route that has been taken even by some African countries. Within that period, testing should be scaled up, and hopefully majority, if not all, of the infected people isolated. People will go hungry and businesses will suffer more. No one says a lockdown will be a walk in the park. That’s why we must take drastic action now. But it is worth noting that the economy is already off-kilter businesses have scaled down operations and others have closed down Kenyans have lost jobs while others have been sent on unpaid leave and the NSE has suffered a massive blow.Īs the coronavirus rampage gains momentum, the economy will be turned on its head. The fear around a lockdown is that our economy will suffer and it will be hard for those who live from hand to mouth to subsist. Well, no one is saying that a lockdown is the cure for Covid-19, but it looks like the best option at the moment. The situation is the opposite in the US which, like Kenya, has no strict lockdown. UK and Spain have been reporting fewer infections since they imposed lockdowns. This measure, of course, would have been more efficient while we had fewer cases. That’s why it is important to take the extreme step - lock down the country. This is because not everyone is observing them. However, these measures are unlikely to hand us victory. Urging people to maintain social distance and to constantly wash hands are good interventions. Closing schools, pubs, churches and partial shutdown of some counties is laudable.

The secret to defeat coronavirus is not treatment, it is prevention. But we cannot blame our government other countries grappling with the pandemic, US and UK included, are crying out for help health workers, ventilators and protective gear -anything!

Both personnel and equipment are in short supply. If our government is sincere, it should have declared at the onset, like Uganda, that it lacks the wherewithal to deal with this monster. Truth is, Kenya is ill-prepared - in fact incapable - of handling a full-blown coronavirus crisis. That bravado has already shrivelled going by its current tone and tune. Worse, despite evidence to the contrary, the government on several occasions exuded confidence that it had the muscle to take on coronavirus.

Why? Because–and this is my honest opinion–the government decided to follow the well-trodden path one that has led many countries to untold pain and suffering. If we will have 10,000 cases by end of April, how many shall we have in May, June, July? Soon, it’s clear, it will be our turn to face Armageddon.

It follows a familiar trajectory just look at Italy, UK, US, Spain and other countries where people are dying like flies. Ten thousand is a mind-boggling and gut-wrenching figure. Community testing, they argue, would vindicate their position. The officials still hold their initial position that coronavirus cases could hit 10,000 by end of April. But it is not worth celebrating, according to the Health officials who are convinced there are hundreds of infected people out there.

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