I was thinking, 6ft APART is better than 6ft UNDER. But how do you keep 6ft apart if you live in a slum? How do you stay indoors if your family chair is your bed? How do practice handwashing if there’s no water where you live? Do you stay at home and starve your children or do you risk police brutality and put something on the makeshift table? Ponder on this!

Isn’t leadership most needed in a time of crisis. Shouldn’t the leader have simulated our possible alternative futures and figured out what to do in each? Don’t we pay the leader so handsomely to figure out what to do when we are under attack from a gun or a virus?

What would we say if the Commander in Chief’s first option was to ask Kenyans to be ready with machetes or spears, if we were under imminent threat from a domestic or foreign enemy? Wouldn’t you expect the defense forces he commands to be his first options to defend the nation? What do you say when the Parliament’s first option in the face of this crisis was to recess even when some like Sakaja told them the captain should be the last one to exit?

How then should we accept that the first option our leaders have in this crisis is to ask US to donate to OURSELVES? Isn’t it for times like this why we pay all manner of taxes? Isn’t why we have a department called Disaster Preparedness?

Am I saying that we should not donate to help those struggling amongst ourselves? Not in the least. We must be there for each other. But for the most part, we are doing it because of gross negligence occasioned by those in front of us. It’s a form of a tax we have no choice but to pay because the ones we paid were either stolen or misused.

It’s true every country needs help in these unprecedented times but no country has responded first by going out with a begging bowl in the first stages of this crisis. Rwanda just makes you A proud African, as we Kenyans thump our chests that we lead East Africa. When Rwanda is day three in distributing food to their lockeddown citizens, our leaders just sent out a word that they are interested in buying your excess beans and maize. Aren’t we lucky to have such visionary leaders!

This is what we have come to accept as leadership in this nation. This what happens when we do not plan for a rainy day. The ant teaches us wisdom when it gathers in the summer to survive the winter. But these ants don’t gather for Kenyans but for themselves through runaway corruption.

Fellow Kenyans, this is a confirmation of total blindness in they who told us they can see. We will do well not to expect milk from bulls. Deep down we know, we truly are on our own. We must be our brothers keeper. All we have is each other and our hope is only in God! We will get through this but we will be wiser on the other side.

So how do we stay 6ft above?
Given then that our leaders don’t have a grasp of the enormity and multifaceted nature of the problems that we face in this great hour of need. Given that theirs is simply a cheap prefect’s power to punish as displayed with brutal force unleashed on ESSENTIAL workers who were simply going home. Given that theirs is a daily brief that is simply a statistical recital devoid of real solutions. Given that the first response to this crisis was for leaders coming out with a BEGGING bowl in which they want US to drop a coin to feed US. Imagine that, billionaires and millionaires holding begging bowls with all their stashed wealth either stolen or made by monopolizing us with their products and services.

Given all these, we are wise not to not look up to ONE looking up to US for solutions. Once we comprehend this, that our leaders are BULLS, we will immediately stop expecting MILK from them. We will immediately stop saying ‘serikali saidia’ and instantly realize that we can actually solve the problems ourselves.

This is what we must do to get through this. This where we actually have control. If you are a Church it’s not time to ask people for offerings or building funds. How will the building help if there are no people to occupy the building next year? Churches can effect massive weekly relief where it’s needed most by asking it’s members to DIRECTLY donate their offerings to the needy in their immediate communities. It’s invisible, no photos ops, doesn’t offer an opportunity to take credit for assistance given but it will target the need right where it exists. It’s time to lead by example. It’s time to dig into savings and do the work of the Church!

Corporate employers can continue paying their employees even if it’s at half pay. This will preserve the economy and thus preserve their market when the virus finally clears. It’s actually self preservation.

SME employers who have the means can continue paying their employees salary even if it’s at a third their regular pay. It’s a gift that will give back and keep the cogs of this economy rolling for if it grinds to a halt we will be worse off. Domestic employers can continue supporting their employees if only to put food on the table.

Landlords can postpone collecting rent for a few months. In any case, you are not about to get new tenants if you evicted your current tenants. The rent you forgo or postpone now will keep the economy going and the return to normal will be swift when Corona is history. Those who cannot afford to entirely have tenants skip rent can collect a portion of the monthly rent to relieve the pressure. There are Kenyans already doing this and we can amplify it with tremendous effect on the economy.

If you can, continue sending your barber or salonist something on a weekly basis. I have friends already doing exactly that and it’s beautiful! It’s actually very powerful when you really think about it. If 15 million Kenyans helped someone weekly in some kind of way, thats roughly 15 million sorted out instantly.

In such uncertain hour as this, we think most of our need and our instinct is to hoard the little we’ve got. But does it help if EVERYTHING went south and we could have averted it? Averted it with simple but profound actions. When we are most likely to be selfish is the exactly the best time generosity would save the day. It will keep a public health crisis from escalating into an economic crisis and an economic crisis into a social disorder. This is our stimulus package and it will work like clockwork! It needs no central coordination (and especially not coordinated by those blind men in front of us) No one will ever know your individual actions to avert a crisis but when things return to normal swiftly, please know now, it will be because you did something today.

We will take all the precautions recommended but where it’s not possible or practical, we will not despair. We will control what we can and do what we must, for OURSELVES and by OURSELVES to stay 6ft above.

Written by Robert Mwangi, MBA. Author of the book DOLLAR ALTAR

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