Kenya is a harsh place for the poor and the elderly

“If something happens to your grandmother as a result of what you have done, how will you live with it?” President Uhuru Kenyatta reportedly asked his son, who had flouted the curfew and other measures the government has put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The President was speaking to the Daily Nation about the challenges he was facing as the Head of State and as a father dealing with the disruption caused by the pandemic.

Mama Ngina Kenyatta, who is over 80, forms part of the most vulnerable groups, according to the World Health Organization. Ministry of Health officials have shouted about this too many times for it not to be at the top of our minds.

The President was rightly concerned, as research has established that young people aged 20 to 39 are super spreaders of the virus. It gets even more worrying.

PHYSICAL DISTANCING

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently advised that “people aged 60 years or over, or those with underlying conditions, should wear a medical mask in situations where physical distancing is not possible”. On June 8, Health CAS Rashid Aman specified that they should wear N95 masks.

It’s quite disturbing to see that even with the knowledge that the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions are the most vulnerable to the virus, little has been done to protect them.

The government doesn’t seem to know the difference between saying they should be protected and actually doing so. Because there’s very little evidence of the latter.

 If the true measure of a society is in how it treats its weakest members, then Mahatma Gandhi would weep if he saw how Kenya treats the elderly.

Take the N95 mask, for example. The price ranges between Sh200 and Sh1,500, which is beyond the dream of a 60-year-old-plus pensioner struggling with basic expenses.

CLEVER FOLKS

For those supposed to benefit from their pension, the system is rigged to make sure they don’t.

A report by former Auditor-General Edward Ouko indicated that some clever folks at the Treasury orchestrated a money heist that saw the government lose at least Sh67.9 billion in irregular payments by pension schemes to undeserving claimants.

The elderly can’t depend on the much-hyped elderly cash transfer programme either, as it’s marred with corruption. Tales have emerged about unscrupulous Kenyans using national identification cards of the elderly to obtain the funds.

And speaking of disbursement, it would be a great time to make use of the Huduma Namba, which the government promised would “be the ‘single source of truth’ on a person’s identity” and “point for ease of service delivery to the people of Kenya”.

 If there was any truth to the “single source of truth”, then it would have been a fantastic channel to distribute the much-needed N95 masks to the vulnerable. But we seem to have endured long queues for nothing.

A QUICK SURVEY

If only one could take comfort in the idea that the Covid-19 funds, which seem to be trickling in from every corner, would be used to buy the N95 masks. But we can’t.

Past research has shown that aid hardly ever reaches those it’s meant to. If a quick survey was done today about how many ordinary Kenyans have received free masks and sanitisers, they would not be enough to fill a bus.

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) Chief Executive Officer Twalib Mbarak, commenting about monitoring of the Covid-19 emergency fund, also noted that it is during times of emergencies that money is misused for selfish gain.

The financial burden of purchasing the N95 masks for the elderly will fall on the shoulders of the already strained children and grandchildren.

The only consolation the elderly have is that the WHO have proven to have a history of backtracking on their advice. So this N95 requirement might soon give birth to “that’s not what we meant” from them.

Ms Oneya comments on social and gender issues. Twitter @FaithOneya;