HIV and Aids does not discriminate, people do

Kenya is full of liars, but numbers do not lie. And according to numbers, Kenya has lost the plot, against the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, Aids.

I know there are more important issues to talk about — like the referendum. It is sexy. It is on point, and it is trendy. So much so that if you are not talking about it, then you are not patriotic enough to be considered Kenyan.

Just so you know, in a matter of days, Scotland will hold a life-changing referendum that has seen vexillologists dusting their books and looking at new designs of the Union Jack.

The referendum is so important to both the Scots and the British as it could see the Union getting Jacked, literally, because it will either keep the people together or see Scotland becoming totally independent and leaving the United Kingdom.

So far, there is no name-calling and all parties are peacefully campaigning for and against the referendum, unlike in Kenya where talk about referendum sounds as if it is worth more than life — or death.

Oh dear, it is pointless to draw the attention of Kenyans to such issues, but the Scotland referendum is a good example of how people should relate even when they are going to part ways.

Well, Kenyan politicians and their vacuous followers can learn a thing or two from that, but the problem is that Kenyans love to measure themselves against the worst.

“You think Kenyans are violent? Do you know how many people died in the Biafran War? You think Jomo Kenyatta International Airport looks worse than a bus station in Europe - Have you seen the airport in Zanzibar - What do you mean Nairobi’s storms drains are blocked - Do you know that Kampala has no drainage at all?”

That is how Kenyans roll, as if they have a problem with being the best — as if they are afraid that if they are the best, they will be attacked by aliens and all the gains they have not made taken away or rolled back.

Even as Kenyans have this morbid fear of demanding the best services from both private and State entities, and seem comfortable in the quagmire, they still have the false belief that they are the best, and anyone who thinks otherwise can only be a hater — whatever that is — of their collective success.

Kenyans sure are a special people — and they are so good at taking on people on new media platforms, and in the process forgetting that the dirty and tattered Kenyan fabric or linen is out there, because they put it there and so much about them is known.

For the past few months, the word on the lips of Kenyans is referendum. It is a fad. A hit word you can say, which will fade away, or go off the charts and they will be back to their humdrum lives and will have to face the everyday problems that they have been avoiding, nay, neglecting.

So numbers show that Kenya has the fourth highest number of HIV and Aids infections in the world. That should be good news because, after all, Kenya is not the first, and even if it were the first, so what when there is referendum and other political issues to be talked about?

For a country of 40 million to be slightly behind one with 1.2 billion Indians, another with 173 million Nigerians and one more with 53 million South Africans in HIV prevalence, there must be very many wrong things.

That should be a cause for alarm. But apparently, Kenyans are just giddy. They are happy that they have freedom of speech and those other things that make them shout from the rooftops without saying anything meaningful.

Kenyans have faith. They have hope, and they are probably hoping when they maintain silence over a problem, someone will sympathise with them and come solve it for them.

Maybe it will solve itself, who knows, with all these churches and other prayer groups mushrooming by the hour, the gods will help.

Have you imagined how irate Kenyans could have been if the report was released by a foreign body?

They could have fought it off on their favourite theatre of war, new media platforms, and told off the foreign organisation for tarnishing the good name of their beloved country because of envy, that it just wants to scare tourists away.

On the flip side, at least they could have talked about it, and a few sober voices could have been heard, arguing that numbers do not lie and that the problem is real.

But now that it came from within, Kenya’s own Ministry of Health, it has not only been swept under the bed, but under many other places where people engage in unprotected sex and other risqué behaviour that predisposes them to infections.

It would have been nice to point a finger at one State body, or institution, and say that it is the one responsible for the mis-education of Kenyans as far as HIV and Aids is concerned.

It could have been easy to direct it to therefore explain how 1.6 million got infected when there is so much knowledge about preventative measures out there.

That way, it could have been told to change tack, and formulate better policies of saving Kenyans from themselves, or whoever it is that is infecting them.

However, it is sad that is not possible since the problem is everywhere across Kenya, and yet, Kenyans are so happy at their leaders who prefer to talk about non-issues instead of using their energies to well, lead the people and impress upon them to protect themselves.

Like most non-political issues in the country, the report was treated like a passing cloud. It was news on the day it was released, commentaries were written about it, questions were asked, and that was good enough.

No way forward, no strategy, nothing much was said about it because there are more important things that need to be addressed.

Oh, there is the other issue of poverty. HIV and Aids affects only the poor, the wretched of the country, and the much-touted middle class — the group that drives the economy — is safe, meaning thereby that the country will still move forward even when all the infected are wiped out.

But isn’t ironical that at the same time, the political class wastes no time in claiming that it is fighting for the poor, the disadvantaged, the underprivileged, the hopeless, hapless Kenyans who have no idea how they will benefit from all the talk for and against the referendum?

After all reports are released and nothing is done, it would be prudent for those who are protected by their wealth even as they engage in risqué behaviour to remember that HIV and Aids does not discriminate. It is the people who do.