When the first case of Covid-19 was reported in Kenya on March 13 last year, nobody anticipated the adverse effects it would have on the social, economic and political way of life for millions of Kenyans.

Jobs were lost, businesses shut down, schools were closed, movement was restricted and the economy was shuttered.

However, most Kenyans, in their typical nature, had doubts.

At first, they doubted the existence of the disease in Kenya.

Lucia Wairimu, a shopkeeper at Fisheries estate in Bamburi, once told this writer that she would never wear a mask.

Why?

“Because the whole coronavirus thing is a hoax by the government. They just want to make money. If the thing was real, we would be dying like in the US and China,” said Wairimu.

True to her words, this writer never saw her in a mask until mask wearing was gazetted into law and not wearing one was criminalized.

Still, Wairimu only wore one whenever she saw police officers patrol or when she was alerted to their presence in the neighbourhood.

Dr Muiga Chokwe, a psychiatrist and psychologist, told this writer the government found it hard to make Kenyans adhere to the protocols it came up with to curb the spread of the virus because of the doubts Kenyans had.

“In Kenya, and most of Africa, you have to convince people that the virus is there and they need to take precaution,” said Dr Muinga.

The ‘doubting Thomas syndrome’ however is not helped by the behaviour of political leaders in the country.

Almost from the off, the political leaders, unable to resist the urge to see and talk to cheering crowds, started violating the very protocols they had been urging their followers and supporters to adhere to.

“The protocols that the Ministry of Health came up with had problems. We had to keep distance which was in complete contrast to the African way of life,” said Dr Muinga.

Most African cultures, the psychiatrist said, involve meeting, shaking hands, eating together, hugging, wrestling each other as part of fun games, among other things, he noted.

The Covid-19 stopped all these.

“Funerals, one of the most respected last rites a dead person is given in African cultures, were disrupted. Only a handful of people were allowed to attend,” said the doctor.

This was the most annoying and discouraging thing.

“It was bad. Imagine having to burry your father, mother, sister, brother without even viewing their body,” said Sila Kioko, a resident of Mombasa.

Kioko said funerals are the most revered ritual in African cultures.

“One would travel from the US to Kenya to burry their best friends, by all means but things changed” said Kioko.

But this ‘luxury’ was denied to many Kenyans, who had to bury their loved ones in the most painful of circumstance.

In April last year, Brenda Akinyi had to miss the burial of her mother Ursula Buluma, who died of Covid-19 complications and was buried only hours after her death, according to government protocols.

Akinyi was at the time in isolation at the Coast General Hospital.

She had to properly mourn her mother only after two weeks when she was allowed to leave the hospital.

“This is the disruption of normal life of African people I was talking about,” said Dr Muinga.

He however said that the hand washing protocol is difficult to achieve in many parts of the country because of the water scarcity.

In rural areas, he said, these protocols are non-existent.

“Nobody bothers about them. People live their normal lives and thankfully, nothing happens to them,” said Dr Muinga.

He noted that Covid seems to be more rampant in Europe and the US.

“The virulence of the virus in Africa seems to be less. Because the weather is warmer,” said Dr Muinga.

“If we were in Europe with this kind of behaviour, it would have been more disastrous.”

Muslims for Human Rights gender officer Topister Juma said that  Kenyans were at first divided between believing the virus was real and those who thought it was a hoax.

“Those who believed had panicked. This was a new thing,” said Juma.

She said that an expose by one of the TV stations convinced people the disease was not real and that senior government officials were only exaggerating figures to attract more donor funding so they could loot.

However, a second wave hit the country when most of the donor funding had stopped.

“This was when people started believing the disease was real. It was made more so because now senior figures in the country were succumbing to the disease,” said Juma.

The human rights defender argued that the disease exposed the social behaviour of most Kenyans faced with desperate situations.

According to her the pandemic made people realise one can do any job.

“Some thought they could never hawk goods but they found themselves hawking masks, sanitizers and even food, just to earn that shilling to feed their families. People realised they had skills they did not
know,” said Juma.

However, the pandemic also revealed the other sides of Kenyan couples.

Gender-based violence, child abuse and other vices increased because people were now living together properly due to the lockdown, curfews and cessation of movements.

“Many violations happened in the period between March to July,” said Juma.

The stress levels were going up because people lost their jobs and there was no way of earning a living, she explained.

Husbands turned violent towards wives, wives turned violent towards husbands, parents became too harsh on their children, making some run away from home.

“Children engaged in irresponsible behaviours like sex, other impregnating others while some even had to be forced to marry each other when they had not even hit adulthood,” said Juma.

She shifted the blame to  the government saying it did not consider measures to put in place to protect couples from GBC because they never anticipated such violence.

“It was not communicated what needed to be done. That was the time there were many cases of GBV,” she said.

Today, after almost 11 months of the pandemic in Kenya, Kenyans have relaxed again.

The protocols laid down by the government are no longer adhered to unless law enforcement officers are seen.

Most restrictions have been relaxed as the government looks to rebuild the economy, which had taken a battering.

Schools have reopened, movement no longer restricted and only the10pm-4am curfew remains.

According to Juma, traditional methods of taking care of diseases were embraced after the second wave of the Covid-19 hit the country.

“People were taking more ginger, garlic, lemons and were steaming to ensure they do not contract the virus. This is what our forefathers used to do and we abandoned them because of modernity,” said Juma.

The recent health workers’ strike, according to Juma, made people taking precautions because they knew they would not get any help in government hospitals should they get the virus.

“Private hospitals are out of reach of many Kenyans, so prevention became more essential than cure,” said the Muhuri gender officer.

So far, the country has now recorded a total of 99,308 positive Covid-19 cases, with the cumulative tests now standing at 1,130,707.

The number of deaths caused by Covid-17 currently is 1,734.

The total number of recoveries currently stands at  82,478.