Let’s support, protect frontline soldiers fighting the pandemic

After four more cases were announced yesterday, the number of people identified as having Covid-19 now stands at 126. And with an increasing number of coronavirus patients, there is a corresponding need to deliberately protect the frontline soldiers. This special group includes healthcare workers, security agencies, transporters and other essential service providers. We cannot, as a country, afford to forget that this special category has kept the wheels turning currently, since everybody is expected to stay home. The least we can offer them is all the support they need.

At the beginning of the curfew, certain police officers came out viciously as though they were holding a grudge against someone or something -- and they did so without obeying any physical distance among themselves. It is time the government realises that even police officers are in danger of contracting and spreading the virus. The private security guards play a critical role in our nation and it is commendable that the Ministry of Health is now training them on how to carry out their duties in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is the way to go. The government also needs to build the safety capacity of transporters by ensuring they go about their business without putting lives of fellow Kenyans at risk.

That said, we have continuously heard of concerns raised by health workers over their safety even as they handle potential and real cases of coronavirus. At the moment, a significant percentage of our success depends on this core group of professionals, being the forefront battalion in this battle. This is the moment to give them our all from moral to material support.

We must not play Ping-Pong with their lives, knowing that if they fail, we all fail. Opportunities have opened up for our local manufacturers and the government should do all it can to support them.

Let us not go back to importing what we can make within our borders. This is the time we have to work together as a country in fighting a common enemy. United we stand.