Suppliers don’t overprice masks, we are in a crisis

During daily briefings on the Covid-19 pandemic, Kenya’s Ministry of Health announces measures to stop spread of the disease.

Regulations have been gazetted including every person must wear a face mask at all times or risk being arrested then prosecuted.

The public has cried out to the national government and counties, on providing these masks before enforcing such strict regulations.

There have been cases of people grabbing whatever they can to avoid the wrath of police officers.

What is not being communicated is what passes for a standard face mask? Lack of regulations on what a standard face mask should be leaves the public to figure out what is safe to wear.

The affordability and accessibility of quality masks comes also into question.

There are textile companies that are mass-producing the masks, but will the regulations come into effect even before the masks are distributed?

Then when it comes to distribution, the monster of corruption will definitely reveal its ugly head.

Take the case of Bungoma where the county government bought jerry cans at exaggerated prices is a pointer of the rot in counties.

With the corruption cases in court, we heard how county officials procured wheelbarrows in Busia County for $1,000 apiece. In another county pens were bought for hundreds of shillings each.

There always appear to be similarities in all the cases – that is officials were aware that the items were procured exorbitantly.

The fact that there were proxy companies involved, no one seemed to know who owned them but somehow passed background checks to be credible enough to be awarded tenders.

For Bungoma County, there were up to nine cheques of substantial amounts that were approved and instances of cash transacted when on such occasions the money should have been wired to bank accounts.

The problem is not necessarily lack of regulations. We always have regulations.

The issue begins when there is lack of checks and balances, where people bypass processes and authorise transactions that are irregular and illegal.

What is even more concerning, is that such transactions will occur during a period of crisis – like now.

There are radio and television messages being aired calling on Kenyans to be patriotic and standing together, yet there are people in positions of influence who simply don’t care if the public gets quality and affordable services.

Ignoring procedures to stop wastage of public resources through inflated procurement is literally a choice between life or death in these uncertain times when the coronavirus is spreading across the country.

Nerima Wako-Ojiwa Executive Director, Siasa Place @NerimaW