President Uhuru Kenyatta faces a litmus test ahead of his crisis meeting with governors on Wednesday, November 4, even as pressure mounts for him to re-introduce restrictions.
The head of state convened the meeting following a surge in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks with the country recording 100 deaths in the week starting on Monday, October 26.
In a memorandum drafted by the Council of Governors ahead of the meeting, the county bosses are said to be united in calling for a lockdown.
The Head of State, however, has to piece together lessons learned from the previous lockdown that drove the country’s economy to its knees.
School Reopening
Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country eight months ago, the issue of school reopening was a contentious one with increased calls on the Education Ministry to readmit the rest of the students.
This comes at a time when Covid-19 cases are on an upward spiral with some of the schools having recorded positive cases while others closed altogether.
Education CS George Magoha and his Health counterpart Mutahi Kagwe are said to be pushing forward with the back to school plan on the premise that students will lose a lot if they stay longer at home.
Officials from the Health Ministry gave a green light for the reopening of schools based on new data after canceling an earlier reopening plan presented by the Education Ministry.
Spot checks over a period of 30 days, however, showed that most schools did not possess requisite resources to enforce the one-meter social distancing directive.
Hospitals
As the cases rise, the pressure is transferred to medical institutions and before Uhuru settles on a way forward, he has to figure out a way forward after hospitals reported full capacity.
Reports have emerged that some local referral Hospitals had been forced to secure VIP sections after major hospitals including Aga Khan, Nairobi Hospital and MP Shah recorded a surge in numbers of Covid-19 patients.
The challenges come in the backdrop of protracted battles between Health Workers unions and County Governments of pay differences.
Some medical practitioners have lamented of lack of payment for more than three months.
Economic Impact
When President Uhuru Kenyatta instituted cessation of movement and curfew measures in March, the country’s economy nosedived, negatively affecting millions of families.
During the period, reports indicated that over five million people lost steady income streams and the shilling hit a record low of Ksh108 against the dollar.
Domestic violence cases spiked as did criminal activities across the country which were attributed to high unemployment rates.
Before he decides to restrict the country, the president will have to wrestle with the likelihood of the economy suffering worse effects than previously recorded.
Political rallies
Since the inception of the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) in 2018 after the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the document has suffered setbacks due to gathering restrictions.
The two leaders made headway in popularising the document since its launch on Monday, October 26, but re-instituting a lockdown would wipe out all the progress.
Today, the state has a working referendum date of between April 6 and June 6 of 2021 – a development that has increased political gatherings meant to amass support or rejection for the report.