Covid-19 teaching us our priorities

A bat who fell upon the ground and was caught by a weasel pleaded to be spared his life. When the weasel said he hates birds, the bat assured him that he was not a bird, but a mouse, and thus was set free.

Shortly afterwards, the bat again fell to the ground and was caught by another weasel, who said he had a special hostility to mice. The bat assured him that he was not a mouse, but a bat, and thus a second time escaped.

There are always opportunities to turn misfortunes into good accounts and that is where Kenya is at with the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week, the government through the President presented a raft of measures that will have an effect of reducing the rate of infections in the country, flattening the curve and in effect protecting Kenyans.

Let us give credit where it's due and acknowledge that President Uhuru Kenyatta and Health CS Mutahi Kagwe have done a marvelous job containing the virus, updating the public and managing the crisis.

They say every cloud has a silver lining. In this crisis, the silver lining will be the opportunity to transform healthcare in this country.

During this crisis, the President has a blank check to focus on transforming healthcare as he outlined in the Jubilee manifesto and the Big Four agenda.

This is the time for the government to initiate any project to revamp hospitals, construct new ones, improve the drug supply chain, transform NHIF, and make healthcare affordable for all.

We should build healthcare so that medical tourism becomes a norm in Kenya, while ensuring all Kenyans have access to the best medicare. We can use this time to evaluate the weaknesses in our system and plug in the gaps as need be.

For this to work, NHIF must be transformed, with friendly policies towards mwananchi being the priority. Hospitals must be well equipped and staffed.

Universal healthcare is something that Kenyans have yearned for and this crisis presents us with an opportunity to ensure that everything is put in place for it.

But it is not only on health that the coronavirus presents an opportunity for Kenya. There are other critical areas that must be a priority for Kenyans to have a better life.

As this crisis unfolds, we are seeing the effects it has on the economy including a strain on jobs. The pandemic has shown us that we need to focus on ensuring Kenyans are job secure.

The President was forced to announce cuts on income tax and VAT as a way of ensuring many Kenyans keep their jobs. Many companies are also learning how to work away from the office thus helping in innovation.

We are at a point where having more formal jobs is a necessity for Kenya. The less people we have living from hand to mouth, the better the country would be prepared to deal with such a crisis.

Another area that Kenya must focus on is housing. We have seen the difficulty that the country has faced with social distancing, especially in the slums. Proper housing is critical if we are to evade the spread of such a pandemic again.

Food security is another key pillar of the Big Four agenda. The coronavirus is teaching us why this is necessary and why we must do everything to ensure the county is food secure.

If the country was totally food secure, there would be no need to lower VAT to make essential commodities affordable for all.

The final lesson and probably the most important lesson is that high levels of hygiene at an individual and collective level are critical. We must always keep our environment clean to stop the spread of illnesses.

As we continue battling this pandemic and guarding our country against suffering, let us continue drawing lessons that can make our nation better.

The writer is a political and communications consultant @MachelWaikenda