Prof Nyong’o lost to ‘Peremende Movement’

It began with a wry joke by a testy Minister for Medical Services Anyang Nyong’o that was completely off the mark and quite tasteless, to say the truth.

Since then it has developed a life of its own, becoming a tidal wave of condemnation of the ministry on the social media at a level unprecedented in Kenya’s history.

off the mark

We are talking about the ‘Peremende Movement’ that is sweeping like wildfire through Facebook and Twitter and savaging the Government’s image with regard to public health care services. When the minister compared doctors to “spoilt children” demanding peremende (sweets) he was completely off the mark. But the doctors took  his statement and turned it on him.

They created the ‘Peremende Movement’ to promote their cause and which, with time, risked transforming the image of the good old professor to that of a taciturn, obstinate, and grumpy teacher who believes he is always right even when the truth is staring him in the face.

Prof Nyong’o is one of Kenya’s most brilliant minds, but he appears not to have understood the magnitude of frustration that doctors, nurses, and other health care service providers in the public health system are experiencing at the moment.

It is therefore good that the strike has ended, but it has cost the country dearly.

privileged

Nyong’o is an example to cancer sufferers who are battling a disease that is now a leading killer. Unfortunately for him, the doctors allege that he belongs to a privileged class that can afford expensive private health care for themselves and their families.

They say because of his status, Nyong’o is out of touch with the horrors of the public health service for the common man and woman, and that if he had taken his time to examine the demands of doctors, he would have realised that they were not asking for anything extraordinary.

Whether they are right is not for us to speculate, but it is a fact that they are not just seeking better terms for themselves, but are forcing Kenyans to come out and state what kind of public health infrastructure they expect from the Government.

Nyong’o’s case was not helped by Tuesday ruling by the High Court in a different matter. Using a word that best describes the professor, Eldoret High Court judge Justice Abigail Mshila ruled that Nyong’o was “overzealous” when he appointed the head of the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret.

The minister had overruled the hospital’s board that had begun the process of competitively recruiting the new head. Nyong’o has since withdrawn the appointment but, as the judge said, he need not to have acted outside his ministerial powers if he could only have been a little more patient.

His apology did little to undo the damage caused by his action, including the mistrust towards him that it implanted among hospital staff.

Professional elite

That he only recoiled after Prime Minister Raila Odinga publicly ordered him to rescind his action raises even more questions about his judgement.

Even the PM was not spared with one tweeter saying: “Shame on you RailaOdinga. 22 days Drs strike and patients dying at home you still want us to #talk2raila? Talk to #peremendemovement please.”

Even worse, politicians tried to hijack the Peremende campaign to score political points on the Prime Minister, making it a costly error by Nyong’o.

So the ‘Peremende Movement’ has destroyed any goodwill the minister had among the professionals to whose intellect he would like to appeal for understanding. The ‘Peremende Movement’ gained traction, but even worse for the minister, it exposed the rot in the public health system that he would have wish remained buried.

From operations carried out using light from a mobile phone because hospitals lack generators to a hospital being shut due to lack of water and cancer patients “begging to die” for lack of morphine, those gremlins that have been locked in the ministry’s closet have escaped and it is not a pretty sight.

The minister and his ministry have become objects of ridicule and contempt. He must do something fast to regain the moral high ground unless he truly believes that the voices on Twitter and Facebook are those of spoilt brats. In 2008, President Obama’s campaign benefited from Twitter and Facebook.

Could it be that in 2012, the doctors cause was aided by Kenyans sharing their painful experiences of the public health system using the same media? Only time will tell.