University of Nairobi (UoN) don and renowned political analyst Herman Manyora on Tuesday, March 31 advised President Uhuru Kenyatta to direct the channeling of funds allocated to the National Government-Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF) towards the Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Manyora explained that it was crucial to put on hold other projects and focus on mitigating the crisis at hand, warning that chaos would erupt if the country went into a total lock-down without provisions for food and other necessities for the poor.
He noted that it wasn't only CDF funds he wanted redirected to combat Covid-19, but all other funds the government was able to access without stopping essential programs.
"The idea behind the emergency response fund is to co-ordinate resource mobilization from a central position. The CDF is just one resource that comes to mind.
"We can pool 10 or 15 billion, the money is already in these MPs' accounts. The money is already there, all of it should be recalled immediately.
"And those MPs should know, if we go into a lock-down and the poor whose lives have been disrupted and who have lost jobs have nothing to eat, there will be chaos in this country.
"They should know that if we do not organize ourselves, the poor will come even for those who have something small, and they will eat the rich," he cautioned.
Manyora observed that leaders could easily mismanage and siphon funds under the guise of making donations and co-ordinating localised Covid-19 relief programs.
"You see these leaders, going around donating unga and whatnot. The pictures may look very nice but some may also use this as an opportunity to steal in the name of Coronavirus mitigation
"We need to coordinate these things from a central position and we need to be very well-organized, that's all I'm saying," he noted.
Admitting that it was difficult for Uhuru to recall CDF funds without antagonizing MPs whom he will depend on to pass crucial legislation, Manyora nonetheless maintained that it was time to look into the country's budget and channel resources towards combating Covid-19.
"I'm under no illusions that it is easy, I'm not naive. With our MPs, ukiguza CDF umewaguza mahali mbaya (With MPs, if you touch CDF, you have struck a nerve).
"We need to look into the budget. There's money that is already there, in the accounts, and money that is just on the books, for example funds that are to be raised. These funds that are already there, how can we use it in this period? We need to put food on Kenyans' tables," he asserted.
Manyora spoke even as the prospect of a total lockdown grows more likely with every new confirmed case. As of March 31, 50 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Kenya.
In a press conference at Afya House on Monday, March 31, Patrick Omwanda Amoth, Director General at the Ministry of Health stated that Kenya was likely to have 10,000 Covid-19 cases by the end of April.
"Our modelling puts us at having 1,000 cases by the first week of April. We postulate that we will have 5,000 cases by mid-April and potentially 10,000 cases by the end of April," he disclosed.
