The Boni community in Lamu on Monday accused the county and national governments of leaving them in the dark about the coronavirus.
The Bonis occupy the villages of Pandanguo, Bargoni, Milimani, Basuba, Mangai, Mararani, Kiangwe and Madina.
As the area is prone to raids by al Shabaab militants, the community has on several occasions been left out of major events and programmes, including political campaigns, vaccinations and effective disaster response.
Elder Mushraf Sagaff said health workers and government officials have not visited the area to educate residents on the coronavirus.
“We have heard that health workers have been educating people on this disease. We aren’t even aware what needs to be done because nobody has told us anything,” he said.
Sagaff said they have only been following up on the pandemic through the radio because most villagers don’t own TV sets.
“Unfortunately for us, the radio signal is poor because of the location of our villages. In short, we don’t really have the information we need about this whole thing, and we feel it’s unfair,” he said.
The elders have urged the government to make use of organisations such as the Red Cross, Muhuri, Haki-Africa and Save Lamu to reach out to the community.
Edited by AN
