Police brutality will only aggravate crisis

The government’s decision to lock down Eastleigh in Nairobi and Old Town in Mombasa was to contain rising numbers of coronavirus infections.

Statistics revealed the infections were rising exponentially in those areas and unless checked, they threatened to get out of hand and complicate matters for everyone.

However, the lockdown has created a backlash. The strategy was not well thought through. Lockdown cuts out residents from all services they need.

Which is why in other jurisdictions, governments put in place practical systems for sustaining families during the lockdowns. That was not the case here. So now we have a crisis.

Eastleigh and Old Town residents are facing hunger, deprivation and helplessness. Shops and food stores are shut down.

Sooner, families will run out of stocks. Moreover, most residents engage in informal business and live from hand to mouth. With the lockdown, they have no means of eking a living.

The resulting situation is desperation, anguish and frustration, which may metamorphose into social unrest and instability.

Ideally, the government should create structures that allow residents to buy food and other necessities. Provisions have to be made to enable residents to access essential services, such as water. But that does not apply here.

The areas are suffocating from garbage and other pollutants. On any given day, Eastleigh and Old Town are heavily congested areas with poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, which are conducive for coronavirus spread.

Indeed, that explains the prevalence of the virus in the locations. Even without the lockdown, these places ought to be cleaned and made habitable.

That is a rarity. Given the lockdown, the conditions in these areas are getting worse. Put together, the obtaining scenario creates fertile ground for distress and disenchantment.

Matters have been made worse by the militarisation of the exercise. To force compliance, the government sent battalions of police officers to contain the residents in the neighbourhoods.

And for the police, the language is brute force. Like they did at the onset of the national curfew, the police have handled the residents quite ruthlessly.

Teargas and water cannons are thrown at residents at the slightest of provocation. One is forgiven for thinking that ours is a police state.

Militarising the operations creates bad blood. People become resistant and restive. Containing Covid-19 spread demands tough decisions.

The public has to be ready for pain and discomfort. To succeed, the government has to act smartly.

It has to create support systems to help the people cope, including providing food rations or allowing designated members of households to go out and source for family upkeep.