Free our ARVs before they start giving birth to fungi

ARVs

Workers offload a consignment of ARVs at the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority  warehouse in Embakasi, Nairobi on April 22.

Photo credit: Jeff Angote | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • We cannot allow innocent drugs to continue to be held captive by a government that is clearly enjoying its war with foreign donors.
  • Nowhere in the Geneva Convention of 1949 are essential medicine categorised under Prisoners of War.

If you work at Afya House and are reading this, kindly let the Minister for Health know that Kenyans are asking him to go camp at the Port of Mombasa with blankets and wine until the antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that were donated to us by USAid are released from detention.

For four months now, they’ve been crying for help as they have grown familiar with each other, almost giving birth to moulds and fungi.

We cannot allow innocent drugs to continue to be held captive by a government that is clearly enjoying its war with foreign donors. Nowhere in the Geneva Convention of 1949 are essential medicine categorised under Prisoners of War, and the drugs have every legal case to be set free.

Kenyans understand the Americans’ worry that they can no longer trust the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) with their property, and this is why we’re asking Afya House to assure Kenyans that the fat cats who ate our Covid-19 millions did not retreat into a corner in the go-down and are waiting to pounce on the ARV boxes too. We wouldn’t want to see cats dying from consuming ARVs, as we don’t want problems with cat lovers and other animal rights activists.

We can blame Americans for once experimenting with a comedian President, but on this one they’re whiter than some fat cats’ hair.

Covid-19 money

It’s difficult to trust Kemsa right now. For one year straight they have gatecrashed our media space airing dirty linen when our kids are watching – you wonder why those in charge of regulating clean content haven’t banned those stealing medicine money from being shown on television.

It’s one year since our mouths went blank when we were confronted with the sad news that our Covid-19 money was being eaten by those who took the Bible on their appointment day and promised to listen to God only, only to get calls from their stomach and abandon God’s children to fend for themselves.

If money meant for the Covid-19 pandemic can be eaten, how sure are we that the ARVs are not crying for Kenyans not to leave them alone with Kemsa in one room?

We want to send a thank you note to the government for taking delayed action and hiring new brooms to clean the Kemsa offices. But we would love to know where they took the old brooms, because if they continue throwing old brooms back into the environment it might clog drainages and cause flooding of our collective morality. 

Not a funny joke

We are asking that the old brooms be asked to report to their nearest prison tailor for their measurements to be taken, as this is the only way we can be sure they are clean before being reintegrated into the society.

We are not here to side with anyone in this tug of war between USAid and Afya House. Kenyans aren’t interested in any war right now and even if we were, we can’t find the energy lest KRA comes around and demands to tax it too.

We’re aware the Kenya government are beggars and we depend on aid to make ends meet. We did not elect Americans in 2017, it is the Kenyan government that we know.

We don’t want to hear what Americans have done or not done to give us ARVs. We want to hear why the government is not doing anything when our people who depend on those life-saving drugs are on their knees begging for someone to come through for them.

ARVs are life-saving medicines. Life-saving means if you don’t have it death will be calling you by your name. We know the Ministry of Health has been trying to make us laugh with good news during this pandemic these days but this is no longer a joke, and even if it was it isn’t funny anymore.

Mr Oguda comments on topical issues; [email protected]