Top officials should use public health institutions

Kenyatta National Hospital's casualty and emergency entrance. Senior government officials should seek medical treatment in public hospitals. FILE PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • For a problem to be solved in this country, it seems, it must directly affect members of Parliament and Cabinet secretaries.
  • I suggest MPs and every other high-ranking government official be compelled to seek medical treatment in public hospitals.

It took exactly a week for the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), led by Mr George Kinoti, to get to the bottom of allegations of cybercrime that had hit Parliament like a tornado.

In what read like a classic James Patterson novel, MPs — some on the verge of tears — shared their experiences on how they had suffered in the hands of a cyber criminal who knew the mobile phone numbers of nearly every MP in town.

Never mind that they rushed to blame a woman (why do we blame women for everything?).

The MPs told of how a certain cyber criminal has been terrorising them by sending nude pictures of women to their phones.

CON MAN

That same criminal is also alleged to have registered sim cards in the names of select MPs and used the fake sim cards to solicit money from the MPs.

It gets better. Apparently, so many MPs and Cabinet secretaries have been targeted, including National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi who is said to have sent Sh300,000 to a fake number registered under Murang’a Woman Representative Sabina Wanjiku Chege.

If you ever needed any evidence that our police are a formidable force with world-class equipment and unmatched investigative speed, look nowhere else.

So I would like to congratulate the DCI for a fantastic job. You have proven your critics wrong.

You took a record seven days to unearth the little rascal behind Kenya’s most high-profile cybercrime — one that even got former Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo to send Sh20,000 to a conman.

INVESTIGATION
However, I would like us today to take a moment and ask ourselves why is it that it took such a short time for investigators to get to the bottom of this scandal.

Because, my readers, this crime involved MPs.

For a problem to be solved in this country, it seems, it must directly affect members of Parliament and Cabinet secretaries.

It took MPs and CSs to be conned of a lot of money and feel the ramifications of cybercrime at a personal level for something to finally happen.

BIAS
How many Kenyans have been victims of cybercrime and stolen identities yet their cases remain unsolved to date?

How many people receive unsolicited photos, messages and even death threats, report them and nothing happens?

In this country, if an issue does not affect MPs or Cabinet Secretaries, then it does not matter.

This is why Kenyans will probably continue to die at the hands of doctors at the Kenyatta National Hospital and why crime will continue to escalate in the cities unless we do something very drastic.

HOSPITAL
I suggest MPs, senators, governors, Cabinet secretaries and every other high-ranking government official be compelled to seek medical treatment in public hospitals such as Kenyatta National Hospital.

There is absolutely no need for an MP to leave their home area in whatever corner of this country to be airlifted to Nairobi for treatment while there is a world-class “level five” hospital in their constituency.

I want to put it to the MPs that the wives (and concubines) be banned from delivering in private hospitals, but instead be made to go to the KNH maternity wing.

Rather than enlisting the services of paediatricians and nurses from those high-end hospitals, I am suggesting that MPs’ wives take advantage of the wonderful service at KNH.

The queues are just long enough, the wards are in beautiful shape and the doctors are currently on strike, but don’t worry about that small inconvenience.

The best part is, all you need is your NHIF card!

EDUCATION
Again, instead of MPs and governors’ children studying in expensive private schools where they pay Sh700,000 per term, why don’t the little ones enrol at the nearest public school?

The education standards are equally good, the new curriculum is fantastic, the mud class are up to par, and guess what, kids these days use laptops in class!

Finally, instead of MPs and senators flooding hospitals in India for treatment, why don’t they use our top-notch equipment readily available for public use at KNH?