 Halo, thank you for keeping us company, this is Y254 discussion mandate kicks off right now, we are talking about Kenya's preparedness in disaster management and we are focusing on coronavirus that has been said somewhere we have allegations that it could be in Kenya but authorities say it is not here. Also we have the locust invasion where we had even a reshuffing the government hoping the CSP Tumunya will bring a change but still things are not happening so as a nation are we ready for any disaster that comes in. I'm speaking to Judy Wamaita, she's a policy and governance person and Anita Nkirote governance consultant so I have the best people to speak about Kenya's preparedness in regards to crisis and calamities. Good evening ladies, I must admit this is the first time I'm having ladies in my show as in without a gentleman other than myself. So it's an honor to have you here. Now I will begin right with what we've had in the last week, we had some memes trending and this was because a plane was seen landing GKIA and actually the person who took that video somehow was suspended. But now let's not focus on the employability thing but the fact that that plane came, Kenyans we are good in tweeting. We are good in creating scenarios, you're good in making things trend and people are saying Kenya is playing with coronavirus and there were scenarios, there were analogies of how we are playing with corona. But anyway, the truth of the matter, are we ready for coronavirus because we are told this mask hours are expensive, do we even have those masks in our country and those people are out there. I'll begin with you Anita. According to me, I know like the public opinion does not think we are prepared for the coronavirus as I've also seen on Twitter and social media. But to be honest if you look at the statement by the government spokes, we are actually doing something about it by canal retired Oguna. And for example, the matters you're raising as it regards to this disaster preparedness in this country, we should note that this is not an isolated, it's not a Kenyan issue. All these are international matters, coronavirus is an international matter, we've seen it in Italy, you've just read New York has gotten one hit. So this is an international affairs, even the WHO is looking into it and finding ways in which it can handle it. When it comes to also matters of, you mentioned coronavirus, even the desert locust, I know we'll be talking about that. All these are, we are not dealing it in isolation. We've even formed a multi-agency tax force to look into the coronavirus. Kenya actually has 5,000 mask, protective mask. Even if you go to JKI right now and you see some maybe Uber drivers because when we get guests, foreign guests they are using the protective gears. As for us to hold the flights, I know it's not the most popular opinion but we cannot just hold flights because these are matters of foreign affairs. And I know you saw in the dailies when the four CSAs were put on the forefront. Because what it means is most nations, when you look at international relations affairs, anything we do to China, they will also retaliate. And you need to look at more than just health affairs, you need to look at, we are indebted to China, you need to look, yes we are heavily indebted to Kenya. And you know whoever pays your bills, sometimes you must throw the line. So I don't know if Judy has a similar opinion or otherwise. So Judy, this is a scenario, there is coronavirus and like she has alluded, it's not an isolated case. We are part of, and considering we have Kenyans who are still stuck there. And I remember when Retired Serozoguno was saying, we would rather have them there because they are not infected yet. But when they come out we risk them, one of them might. And now coming back to Kenya, if one of them gets the virus, that would mean we have a case here. So do you think Kenya is prepared for this? Actually with all these deaths, we can't compare ourselves with the US, they have money. Do we have such? I don't think we are prepared. They have 11 beds, 11 isolation beds to handle coronavirus cases. Well, with the current Kenyan population I don't think 11 beds is sufficient enough, I don't think we are prepared. But even then, I also don't think the situation is as bad as we want, as Kenyans are trying to make it look online. Because basically we have other epidemics that cameo, sorry to say so. But in terms of preparedness, we may not be at the level where China is or where the US is, but we are not immune. Which means even if we shut down flights, remember like the case in Nigeria was from an Italian. So we are shutting down flights from China. But then again we are not considering that a lot of people who come to Nairobi come through Bali. Or a lot of people that come to Nairobi are from Amsterdam. So really it shouldn't be more around us shutting out borders or shutting out people or shutting out the world. It should be us looking at how best do we collaborate with the other countries. We have a task force. How best do we work with what is known. How best do we move forward. Even then how do we put systems in place that put us at a better prepared level. How do we work with what we have, with the knowledge we have to actually get us moving. Because we cannot shut down our country. Ultimately if you walk in town and most of the shops are suffering from this. You want to buy stuff but they are telling you we don't have stock because we are not getting stock. So everybody is sort of afraid and it's becoming an effect. It's becoming a round effect on the economy. So we cannot shut ourselves out to the world. But we need to be better prepared than we are. Alright now Anita you just mentioned of foreign affairs and the ties that we have. There was another meme that was going round. We know we owe you. Please don't still come to us. We know we owe you. But also there is this fact. They were saying we stop discriminating the Asian guys. Them that are here. Do you think as a nation we have lacked manas that we've gotten to a point of now. We can have. Okay we are not being racist but now we are treating them like you people have the virus. So how should we be carrying ourselves as we speak? I believe I even watched an interview in one of the TV shows whereby someone who's been here for more than five years since high school are Chinese and they also saw an incident whereby a South Korean was technically Malindi. He was being considered because you know some people look at the biological maybe small eyes. This characteristic so some people think South Koreans are Chinese. And he was actually put aside, tests were done and he was almost being quarantined. However after a few hours he was able to get out. I think as a Kenya we are one of the most welcoming nations. It's why our tourism has always been like skyrocketing when you go to the lakes of Diani one of the best beaches. We are actually a tourist hub and even I can give examples of expatriates. We have foreign diplomats who have come to do different things. The likes of Lei, former GM and these are the likes of former RIP Bob Collimo. The likes of foreigners who have actually made a home out of this country. And because of our relations with Chinese it's expected that even more Kenyans. There are a lot of Kenyans. That's why we had over 100 students in Wuhan. And we expect even though they are in quarantine and maybe they cannot come back home because as Oguna said transporting them or removing someone from Kasarani or Ruizambo and taking them to JKI may expose them to coronavirus. So I believe where they are they are getting food. I know the government of Kenya has intervened by giving them. At first they were given 1 million. Now I've seen they've been given 10 million. But I believe still the Chinese government is taking care of them providing food in these areas that have been quarantined. So I believe the Chinese who should be here should also because I believe there is a due process. They were checked in Kenyata National Hospital and WHO, WHO itself has recommended self quarantine for 14 days. And they actually are doing that because they also they have a feeling of phobia when they are interacting with Kenyans. So obviously them themselves have quarantined. And you can even map out you are seeing people from the areas of Mombasa Road at the river Tsukimo, they are saying these people are our neighbors. And in fact the day the 216 passengers from the China South Airlines landed people were saying I know exactly where they are. So they are even in one place. It's not like they are distributed. So for me I believe that is good enough. We are not a country that has had a history of xenophobia like our counterparts in South Africa or a country of racism or any form of discrimination. Even the Chinese themselves when they are inviting the foreigners the Chinese who have been outside Kenya they are also being quarantined. They are also wearing masks even in birthday parties. I know you saw that video in a birthday party. So for me I believe they are taking the necessary precautions and they are not going around. They themselves are quarantining themselves. Otherwise CBD you would be seeing everyone in CBD. Actually in Nairobi we are so populated and I don't know what would happen if such a case would happen here. But now I want us not to move to the other interesting issue. We had CS Kiyonjuri being hosted from the Cabinet because he was unable to handle some of the staff from Maze and now the locusts that had just invaded Kenya. But now Peter Munya was coming in and when he came in a lot of people said now we have someone and I remember having a discussion here and one of the panelists was telling me Munya will not do anything because he has been industrialization and we can't count a good number of youths who have been employed. But now he is coming to agriculture. What difference will he make? And I remember another joke that came in he said these locusts are now turning yellow so they are dying. Which is not true. So is CS Munya doing enough from where you sit Kiyonjuri? The good CS is trying in my opinion. But then again he ought to try harder. He ought to come with I think scientifically and statistically backed strategies to actually combat the locusts because as it says we are a country whose food security is threatened and he needs to treat the issue with the seriousness it deserves because basically if we look at where we are we are almost going into the long range and it doesn't sound like there is an actual strategy to actually combat the locusts. I think in my opinion it was a very careless statement for the CS to say the locusts are old. I expected he would actually utilize professionals within the field entomologist. I mean in Kenya we have all this. He would sit down with them and understand and come up with a very good way of resolving the issue. But you see you can't play politics with people's livelihoods. You can't play politics with the food security of our country. And for CS Munya he actually needs to sit down. I don't know whether it needs to be Isipe entomologist. He needs to understand the life cycle of the locusts and also understand what's the best intervention point. Do we do the intervention when the locusts are still like eggs or when they are names or at what point? Otherwise unless we do that it's going to be an issue. It's going to be hectic. It's going to be bad. I need to be speaking of the big four agenda and food security is one of them. And as we speak of the northern part of the country they are already crying. The locusts came and now they are in western... I'm sure some of the people are enjoying this but also they are not oblivious of what would happen later because the locusts are here and I don't know whether the rains will affect them. I don't know how to catalyze their maturity or their livelihood. Was it a misura hit? For me the comments by CS Munya were totally out of line because it's very good. Like Judea said you look at your predecessor. These are the same statements that brought us to question the competencies of CS Kyunjuri and asking does this guy know what he's doing. But when you look at CS Munya you can actually see he has a trade record. For your panelist I wish you please go and ask him what he means by creation of jobs and the ministry of industrialization. Whether he has the statistics because really what is the measurement of a good CS in terms of trade and industrialization. Remember it's under CS Munya that we've had the AFCTA agreement whereby we want to bring all the African countries under one arm when he was under. So he has a very stellar career especially in EAC, East Africa Affairs and also trade. So I believe he has the Midas touch. The only problem he has is sometimes these reckless statements can bring you trouble and make you question your competency. So as Judea said we actually have Isipa. We have the likes of Kefis. We have all these very good agricultural institutions even that focus especially on research. So I believe that the ones who should make a statement or write something to him so that he avoids putting himself in very awkward situations. Now that you people agree on one thing he has made a reckless statement and you have mentioned of this organization that are out here. Does it mean they have not approached him or they talk? Do they meet these people? Do they meet? I would believe they meet because once you form a multi agency task force that's what it's supposed to do because any multi agency task force has representation from different quarters. So I believe the challenge is we might agree even before the station aired you might have said you cannot mention ABCD but you might be on air and you all of a sudden start mentioning things you know that I'm not supposed to mention. So I believe it's a matter of being exposed to air and sometimes you usually lose the plot. So the spring is not working. It should work with the organization that are in place but now we had some affirmers saying this thing should be declared a crisis already but we haven't seen that. We haven't seen that and I don't know what to be the next move and apparently we are out of time so I'm getting your quick comments as your recommendations as we wind up Judy. One thing we acknowledge is CS Munya inherited a lot of incompetence around the way the locust issues was handled. So when he came in we expected a lot out of him I don't know we expected maybe magic like Dudu will come and poof locusts are gone but it doesn't work like that. So basically he just needs to sit with the technocrats, with the people who understand and also considering the fact that this is not a Kenyan thing the locusts are not just in Kenya they tell all the way in Yemen so what are the peers doing? Again I believe Isipa will be very helpful above Isipa we have research institutions we have universities with the various specialists in entomology so he needs to understand where does he need to target best from then what's the most effective and efficient way because we've seen counties spring well one he also needs to work with the county governments because ultimately for easier implementation of his strategies he needs to work very closely with the affected counties but he needs to acknowledge that he has to work with the help of specialists and get politics out of handling the whole issue just sit back handle it and get it done then we can do politics later Alright, just a follow up on you because you kinda say he's the good man in office we have an issue I want us to digress kido gotu on your part he has to deal with the misproblem with the people down there is this something he will be able to handle because many people say they are cartels the truth is they are cartels and he's the best man for that Well, I believe when the president gave him the job he knew he was the best man Alright, Anita, your recommendations For me I'll begin with the maize scandal the maize issues I don't think he'll still be able to handle that because there are a lot of loose ends and it's not from now it seems to a 7 the scandals with the national series and produce board like all the bodies in the agricultural sector actually needs like a complete institutional reform otherwise even first of all we have the threat of locust then number 2 maize especially from the likes of rift valley and the likes kina mzeki bor are seriously complaining that when they take maize to NCPB NCP national series and produce board they say that their stock are full then when you go and check the maize that will come out to the market has a flow toxin I mean it is it's not gonna be a walk in the park so I will not be optimistic about that not to mention their cartels want to import maize from Mexico and who knows where so they are always creating that inhibiting environment then we even have issues of pest control yet we have a pest and controls board that should limit how much pesticides we use on our crops and it's not happening meaning some of this maize is not fit for human consumption so for me it's a whole chain munya should sit down with all these agencies because they are there and they are actually competent as Judy has alluded to they are just not being consulted or being utilized as for the matter of desert locust I already mentioned again it's an international matter and they are coming from Yemen they are travelling down no one has yet the experts have not told us the impact of the rain that we started experiencing this much as you said on how it will affect because if in Aleman I am not an expert I'm a political person I don't know if the beginning of the word desert locust now that it's raining if it really implies that now that it's raining that issue is gone so we will wait for Kana loguna to give us a statement on Thursday and we shall know the way forward and the coronavirus we say we're good for me I say we are right on track alright so Kenyans the governance here are saying we might be saved but also take care of yourself now coming up next is Waimashariki they have been my guest Anita and Kira their governance consultant and Judy thank you so much for coming it's the first time I'm hoping to be seeing you more here thank you so much for coming keep it Y254 TV like I've said Waimashariki is coming up next with DJ TSKN and we will be seeing you again very soon my name is Edira Vahila you have yourself a very good night and a prosperous week ahead