In the last few months, the country has lost a number of people to disasters like flooding, fires, drought, and other natural calamities.
Drought, fire, floods, terrorism, technological accidents, diseases, dominate the country’s disaster profile and epidemics that disrupt people’s livelihoods, destroy infrastructure, divert planned use of resources, interrupt economic activities, and retard development.
Heavy rains since early this month this month have caused flashfloods, killing at least 36 people, and affecting more than 58,000. There are many deaths that are not accounted for.
In March 2012, State agents failed to rescue four people who died and several injured in Mathare North landslide, a Nairobi shanty. They also failed to save the lives cut short in Mombasa in a terror attack. And then of course, there is the daily road carnage.
In all these occurrences, the country has seemed helpless and unprepared. Despite having a Ministry of State for Special Programmes to handle some occurrences, it has instead abdicated its role and left it to the voluntary Kenya Red Cross Society and other organisations.
The ministry’s National Policy for Disaster Management and National Disaster Response Plan to guide in the disaster risk reduction seems to be only working on paper.
Every year, State officials pledge that such would not happen again, yet they still do. Many hospitals are said to lack emergency wards, drugs and specialised personnel to handle emergencies.
Does the Government care? Many countries all over the world value the lives of their citizens and would rush rescue missions to save them.
Social contract
Kenyans should ask where the funds allocated to such a ministry goes and those responsible be made to account. In developed countries’, the concerned minister would own up and quit if he or she fails in duty.
Who will wake up the minister to the fact that all life is sacred and that we should stop shedding tears when the body starts coming in after disaster? If all concerned acted now to prevent deaths, there would be no tears to shed.
The State has a social contract with its citizens to deliver on a certain mandate and failure means such contract naturally lapses.
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