A casual observer of the cholera case will notice that sewer line bursts are common in residential areas and even in the central business district.
And yet you will find handcarts carrying all manner of foodstuffs to eating establishments.
It is a miracle outbreaks are not frequent.
More important, Kenyans are wondering where the disaster management department is.
Instead, the public has heard that the response effort is being undermined by turf wars between the national and county governments.
Having entered the middle-income countries’ club in 2014, it is an embarrassment Kenya is still grappling with one of the world’s most basic and easily preventable diseases — cholera.
This disease, commonly a sign of poor hygiene, has in the past three months ravaged Nairobi to the extent that more than 300 people are in hospital and at least three are reported to have died of it.
For it to have attacked even Cabinet Secretaries is means something is seriously amiss.
It is the clearest indictment ever of the state of the Nairobi county government’s preparedness to handle a health crisis — health, water and sanitation are devolved.
Clearly, the fact that the order to inspect premises and review licences of food industry operators is only coming after the outbreak shows that the county government is not up to scratch in executing this mandate.
The starting point should be to maintain cleanliness and high standards of hygiene at all times — a mandate that should include regular inspection of food joints, prompt garbage collection, good maintenance of private and public ablution facilities as well as proper water and sewerage management.
A casual observer of the cholera case will notice that sewer line bursts are common in residential areas and even in the central business district.
And yet you will find handcarts carrying all manner of foodstuffs to eating establishments. It is a miracle outbreaks are not frequent. More important, Kenyans are wondering where the disaster management department is.
Instead, the public has heard that the response effort is being undermined by turf wars between the national and county governments.
In situations requiring swift action, the Disaster Department, which is within the national government, should act in concert with the county government and not at cross-purposes.
A task force to handle the cases is in order, but that is only a kneejerk reaction to a problem that should be prevented by continuous monitoring and maintenance of the required standards of health and keeping the city clean.
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