Politicians would not want the world to know that they or their daughters are in their menstrual cycle or starving. Then why do they think it fit to parade young girls receiving sanitary pads or starving Kenyans lining up to receive relief food from them?
Some of our politicians even try and capitalise on toileting. Not to distribute toilet rolls (old newspapers don’t count!) to stave off cholera but offer a used commode to the young as a toilet, just to claim they have built voters a toilet! By the way, commodes are essentially for the elderly and seriously ill, or those with limited mobility.
The public show of phoney philanthropy is quite tasteless. I don’t believe such politicians have altruistic reasons to help but create these opportunities for social media and pretend to be working for the voters when the reality is different, looking at the poor quality of life of most Kenyans.
As if being poor is not bad enough, politicians tend to subject the poor to degrading and inhumane treatment. As one of the highest demography of voters, they deserve better treatment. They should not just be in demand during elections, to be used for campaigns and discarded.
In fact, something that piqued by conscience last week is the silence of local political representatives of Nairobi slums who displayed a deathly silence as their voters were rendered homeless by bulldozers tearing down their homes during heavy rains and floods. The same politicians had a voice as they sought votes and knew their way to the slums but are slow in standing up for the poor during the flooding emergency.
One thing that the poor are devoid of is dignity. We see in how the public hospitals they rely on are starved of cash and medical personnel to help them at their hour of greatest need. Even in death, they are just disposable items that don’t deserve dignity; if nobody claims their body, they get interred in unmarked graves.
Whichever way they turn, the poor are reminded that they have no rights despite the Constitution decreeing they have plenty, in fact. They are, in all the sense of the word, subspecies of humanity in the eyes of their political representatives, who think they don’t deserve good hospitals, schools, housing and even dignified death.
Some people who end up in the relief line, receiving handouts in public from politicians, were once men and women with dignity who went out to eke a living from Kenyan streets but were reduced to begging because their stalls have become fodder for county askaris, who demolish them with zeal.
Whose homes in the slums are perpetually torn down by bulldozers sent by the same government that is legally mandated and took an oath to protect them. I would love to know what the poor look like in the mind of our politicians.
“A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members”, said Mahatma Gandhi, and he may well have had Kenya in mind when he uttered those words. The inequality gap is getting wider and abuse of the most vulnerable and weak, especially by politicians, has become the norm. The doctors’ strike should not have taken so long if the government had the poor at the heart of the negotiations. It’s its duty to ensure they do not suffer indignity or die because their hospitals are inaccessible as they become pawns in a ridiculous and unnecessary power game.
As the government strives to bridge the divide, it must make sure the vulnerable and weak do not suffer indignity during emergencies and are not open to abuse by politicians out to capitalise on their suffering. Relief can be distributed at special centres without political influence and in a manner that protects people’s dignity.
Why shouldn’t sanitary towels be distributed in schools or even chemists so that the girls and young women who are unable to afford the pads can access them with dignity, away from the glare of the cameras beloved of politicians. Some people who fall on hard times and are too proud to lose their dignity may be put off by the public way in which relief is distributed.
The model of giving cash in place of material items could take away the indignities suffered by the poor during emergencies, hopefully fight corruption and stop the sale of relief goods. Sanitary pad vouchers, perhaps, could go a long away in giving girls and young women autonomy to manage their reproductive health and body better and stop the pads from becoming a cash cow for the corrupt.
It is good to know that someone cares when going through an emergency. It would be even better to know that help is offered without the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing. The shame of politicians running to social media to gloat about having helped the poor without considering their dignity must end. Their privacy is as important as that of the politicians and must be respected.
