Why I support move to set aside funds for purchasing HIV/Aids drugs for sex workers

I recently came across an article about the government's plan to release 4 billion shillings from the tax payers pockets for a specific public use.

Ever since I started paying my taxes, such news always raises my eyebrows due to that feeling of it-is-my-money. I quickly went through the article to determine where my four billions were headed to. The target was a bombshell. HIV/AIDS drugs for commercial sex workers!

I wondered how the government would waste so much money on such workers when innocent Kenyans were dying of hunger in Turkana! Leave alone hunger. If the money was specifically meant for such drugs, why not target HIV/AIDS orphans in slums and orphanages? I have been writhing in furry ever since I read that article until last weekend when I came to a full glare of what the government might have seen before coming up with that decision.

It was around 8pm and I was in a gleeful mood. My team, though miles away in a foreign land, had just recorded a rare victory. I was in a hurry to reach my residence and torment those haters of my red team. I took some unusual routes through the congested streets of Pipeline Estate in the larger Embakasi area.

Everyone was minding his own business until I bumped into this lady in a much silent street. It is then that I noticed that there were several of her kind 'idling' around. Her casual gesture and a simple greeting was followed by what made me realize that I had entered someone's office without my  knowledge. She simply enquired to know how much I would part with, for her services. It dawned on me that the rest were not mere idlers but commercial sex workers.

My usual sense would have commanded me to give a warm no-thank-you response. But this was a rare day. The boyish euphoria within gave me a different suggestion. Bargaining is one thing, and buying is another. I opted to give it a try. The desire to know how much her services would cost gripped me.

I always have this defense approach of trade when am in need of something whose price am not aware of. These are the same tactics that my team used to thrash our opponents today. The trick is simple. You defend; study your opponent and then do a counter-attack. In this case, I was to defend by not letting out my initial offer. I would then study her rates and willingness to reduce her asking price before doing a counter with my final offer.

It was at this point that I got the shock of my life. She stared at me. Seemed to rate my poverty level and asked for one hundred Kenyan shillings for a session. That was ten times less than what I expected. I immediately forged some disappointment to her 'high' rates and offered fifty shillings. After a small tussle of bargaining, she accepted the offer. Fifty Kenyan shillings only. It was a deal!

I could not hide it from her anymore. The ecstasy in me was suddenly covered by a sullen face. How could this sister from my other mother waste her precious life with fifty Kenyan shillings? I glanced at the other ladies standing around the pub and lost in my own world. They were around seven of them, in their twenties or early thirties. A ripe age that could be relied upon by a developing country. A ripe age that, if well taken care off, there would be no more orphans of HIV/AIDS in orphanages for their mothers would still be alive. But here they were, putting their lives on the line.

She tapped my shoulder to bring me back to my senses and asked if I was ready to go. I reached my pockets. Gave her a fifty shillings note with a cool no-thank-you.

Walking down to my room, I became aware of the reason that made someone somewhere allocate 4 billion shillings to cater for HIV/AIDS among commercial sex workers. They indeed need it. If you would ask for those of a contrary opinion to say nay, I would staple my mouth.