Lift the overnight curfew

Police brutality

A police officer whips a truck driver who had allegedly violated the curfew in Nakuru town on March 27, 2020.

Photo credit: Cheboite Kigen | Nation Media Group

Since the first case of Covid-19 was reported in the country, we’ve nursed an ailing economy. Many people have lost jobs and companies incurred huge losses or closed down. Parents have to grapple with increased school fee payment as every year has four terms. Prices of basic commodities have skyrocketed.

A contributing factor is the dusk-to-dawn curfew. Since it was first effected, there have been many cases of job losses, which have led to mental health issues. The most affected sectors include transport. Drivers and conductors, and also traders who sell food and other merchandise to travellers, as well as businesspeople, who travel at night, have felt the hit.

Pleas by experts to the government to lift the overnight curfew fall on deaf years. The government can’t justify the curfew, given the heightened political campaigns with politicians criss-crossing the country, where they gather huge crowds despite a presidential decree banning meetings. At the same time, SGR trains operate at night at full capacity with no social distancing in economy class.

There is no scientific evidence to prove that Covid-19 spreads faster at night than during the day. Furthermore, most Kenyans stay indoors at night.

We need collective responsibility in the fight against Covid-19. Selective application of the law won’t work. Why should the government allow politicians to freely convene rallies, yet limit attendance at funerals, weddings and church services? Which of these do officials deem to be the bigger risk as far as the spread of coronavirus is concerned?

A poor Kenyan would be arrested for not wearing a face mask on a lonely village path, but a politician wouldn’t — neither would somebody in the crowd at political rallies. It’s this selective law enforcement that helped Masten Wanjala, the self-confessed serial murderer of children, to take advantage of the curfew confusion to escape from a police cell.

The government should, therefore, lift the curfew as it causes more harm than good.

Mr Oduor is a communication lecturer at Tangaza University College.