Thirty More Days Behind Doors As Kenyans Struggle With Working From Home

By Njai ka Wambui

NAIROBI, KENYA: The much-awaited announcement from Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has seen the country driven to 30 more days of lockdown, with Mombasa and Nairobi, being hard hit economically.

Working from home has been a challenge, as many Kenyans struggle with the new norm.

“Working from home has never crossed my mind and neither did I ever imagine such a thing would ever happen to me. It becomes tricky especially since I do laundry, and it would sound funny for me to tell my clients to bring me their dirty clothes for cleaning,” quipped Mary Kemunto, a casual worker in the Nairobi Korogocho area.

In normal circumstances, she would move from house to house doing laundry and household chores, which would pay her bills. On a good week, she would take home USD 25. This, however, being enough only to sustain her basic needs.

“Things are tough on me. I have not gotten the cash that is being dispersed by the government meant to help the vulnerable. I wonder who they give,” she lamented. She currently lives from hand to mouth, barely breaking even. She has no savings at all.

“I can only hold to the hope that this is just but a passing cloud and things will one day return to normalcy.” However, she is grateful that this pandemic has awakened the spirit of togetherness as they share what they get with her neighbors.

Things are not any better for Mr. Samuel Mwema, who drives a water bowser. The pandemic has hit the water business especially with the suspicion from people on their source of water. The onset of the heavy rains has also seen many people tap rainwater, hence the low demand for the commodity.

“Things have drastically changed. The tips we could get after delivery are a thing of the past attributing to harsh economic times and incurred extra cost that came with Novel Covid-19,” added Mwema.

In his address, President Kenyatta revealed that he had tasked a team of experts to come up with other strategies and plans on how the economy will be revived further “I have convened an Extra-Ordinary session of the National and County Government coordinating Summit on 10 June and within 14 days, it is mandated to develop time-bound protocols for progressive re-opening of the economy,” said Uhuru.

The president affirmed his pledge on the Madaraka day celebration, citing that the government will release KSH 2B to help hotels to cushion them from the effects of the pandemic, noting that how that kitty would be distributed would be shared on a later day.

Kwame Owino, the Chief Executive Officer at Institute of Economic Affairs argues that the virus is not to blame for the current economic recession citing that Kenyan economy was down as evidently seen on job losses and business shut down last year

In a recent webinar hosted by the Kenya Association of Manufacturers, Owino pointed out that COVID 19 has impacted on the value chain, making it hard for businesses to carry out their normal operations.

“The most important thing is to figure out how to get back as quickly as possible to our 6 percent GDP growth potential” he added.