Kenyan heroism during Covid-19 - Daily Nation

Quite unexpectedly we have found ourselves in very drastic times. Slowly things were moving along in the right direction before the Covid-19 pandemic hit and turned our lives upside down. Kenya, prior to the global pandemic, had been showing steady development working towards the Vision 2030 and the Big Four Agenda. 

New infrastructure seemed to be popping up everywhere you drove, and manufacturing plants were under construction or already being inaugurated far across the country. Students were getting more support through the HELB loan and contributing to Kenya’s highly skilled, well trained workforce. Meanwhile, Universal Health Care had begun to roll out in several counties and was on its way to the rest. And real lasting unity, lasting peace, was right on the horizon as Uhuru became Kenya’s first president in recent memory who governed for the whole Kenyan people, not just for his tribe.

But alas, we have reached a roadblock. It is not one that is going to stop us entirely. But it will slow our momentum as we need to reverse a little and find a way around. It's going to take some time, and our ability to move forward at a healthy speed depends on the support and cooperation of each and every one of us.

But Kenyans are a resilient people. We have faced many difficulties before, and this won’t be the last. With that kind of mindset, there is actually good reason to be very optimistic. 

Take, for example, the Kitui County Textile Centre (KICOTEC). What is usually a garment factory that employs women from Kitui to assemble things like gardening clothes, has become a factory to produce surgical masks almost overnight. KICOTEC now produces about 30,000 masks a day, which will be distributed around Kenya to assist us all with obeying the Ministry of Health regulation to wear masks in all public places.

Before each shift, workers have their temperature checked in order to ensure that the virus is not spread amongst employees. They have also split their work time into two shifts in order to minimise physical contact. 

While China scrambles to supply Kenya and other African countries with medical equipment, the factory in Kitui is showing us that we need not be reliant on other countries for everything. Of the 400 people working in the factory, 80% are women. Kenyans of all creeds should feel empowered to give back to their nation in any way they can during this difficult time. Research shows that females have been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Here in Kenya, they are using their factory work to fight the spread of the virus and save lives.

Our country is more than capable of creating its own locally produced products. One of the four principles of the Big Four Agenda is increasing local manufacturing from 9.2% of GDP to 20% of GDP by 2022. Before the pandemic hit, we were well on our way to that. Now, even if we are slowed down, the goal remains the same: produce as much locally as possible.

The benefits of making and buying Kenyan are multi-fold. It contributes to higher employment due to job creation across the new factories that have been built here in the past several years. It also is better for the environment because it reduces the carbon footprint of shipped goods imported from abroad. And buying local and supporting businesses closer to home contributes to the local economy and strengthens our communities.

While it is impossible to deny that joblessness will be on the rise in the coming months because of Covid-19, we should not throw our arms up in despair. The development programmes that Uhuru put in place years ago are constantly adjusted to address the situation on the ground. His policy has simultaneously demonstrated both faith in the Kenyan people and preparations for the worst possible scenario - what plagues us now.

Rather than be pessimistic, we should instead take a moment to praise all of the individuals that are working to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in Kenya, from the factory workers in Kitui, to the doctors and nurses in all of our nation’s hospitals, to the essential workers still showing up to work every day. Let us believe in ourselves and never give up.