By C Muriuki
We need do do the following :
1. Stop making jokes about corruption. Yes, humor is a Kenyan coping mechanism, but it contributes to normalization of shit that shouldn’t be normalized.
2. Actually get angry and refuse to be placated by cosmetic measures. We’re not angry enough.
3. Realise that corruption kills. Money that is looted is actually taken away from people that need it. From hospitals, disaster relief, capacity building. It kills.
4. Understand just how much a billion Kenya Shillings is. Then the gravity of this shit will hit home.
To break this down further, a PET scan machine costs between $1.5 – 4 million. That’s about KSH 200 – 500 million. We got our first PET scan machine this year. One. In the whole country. But 100 tires were bought for KSH 100 million.
A dialysis machine costs anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000 (KSH 1 million – 3 million). There are 74 in the country. There are four million Kenyans suffering from renal disease. A large proportion progress to renal failure. This as at October 2017.
But towels were bought for 100k. Ten of these magical towels would have bought a dialysis machine.
The cost of a linear accelerator machine (LINAC machine) used for radiotherapy for cancer patients begins at $500,000 (KSH 50.4 million). The Josephine Kabura 2.0 had KSH 59 million deposited into her account.
Financial experts, tell us what a billion shillings can do. So that we can understand. Because I think we’ve become desensitized to just how much a billion shillings is.
Meanwhile Kenyans with cancer die waiting for radiotherapy.
