• Majority of Kenyans work in informal sector and state has directed everyone to stay or work from home.
• Contributions will come in handy at a time when the country is already grappling with an overburdened economy.
The Health minister is doing a splendid job informing the country on the status of coronavirus infection.
County and national government officials have also taken pay cuts in their March salaries to contribute towards the fight to contain the spread of the virus that has infected 38 people in Kenya - with one dying and one reportedly recovering.
The contributions will come in handy at a time when the country is already grappling with an overburdened economy. Kenyans - the majority of whom work in the informal sector - have been ordered to stay at home to flatten the curve of infection by the virus. But what will they eat?
Kenyan leaders need to come up with Kenyan solutions to problems. Giant economies like that of the US can afford total lockdown as it would be able to feed its citizenry. In Kenya, however, taxes still need to be paid, with targets which we don't reach even in the absence of a pandemic.
So if there is going to be a shutdown of all services, it would only be fair to resent small to medium enterprises an alternative way of putting food on the table. Otherwise, this will not be an effective order to tame the Covid-19.
When a guardian lacks food to feed their dependents, it will only be too long before they get into illegal practices to get that food; such as breaking into their neighbour's house or mugging an innocent passerby.
Hence, the efforts by our leaders will go a long way in protecting the masses and cushioning them against the effects of the virus that has infected more than 710,000 people in the world.
Mombasa