The government has imposed a host of restrictions to contain the spread of Covid-19. The protocols are well-intentioned and informed by research and evidence. From a hygiene code and social distancing to a curfew and travel curbs, the directives aim to minimise infections and avert a health catastrophe. But the rules and regulations are not tantamount to an overthrow of the Constitution and statutes. Least do they mean abrogation of civil liberties and delegitimising cultural and social norms.
The bizarre burial of a Kenya Ports Authority employee in the dead of night at the weekend in Siaya County has grimly brought to the fore the debate over treatment of those infected with or die from the coronavirus. Video coverage of the burial brought home the horror visited on a victim. He was handled worse than an animal. It was callous, insensitive, unnatural and cold-hearted treatment.
The question is: Who was responsible for this inhuman act? Who gave the directive? Who were those executioners?
The chilling burial has since sparked public outrage. The public, politicians, civil society and professional bodies have roundly condemned the act, demanding investigations to establish who was behind that cruelty. Dying through coronavirus infection does not rob one of his or her dignity. Care for the dead is a global practice because it is about human dignity and protected by law.
It is for this reason that the health protocols that guide burials expressly allow families who lose their beloved ones through coronavirus to make decisions and participate in their interment. The guidelines detail the number of people to attend, timing and protective measures to be observed. No burials are expected to take place at night and, worse, nobody is to be buried without a coffin. And the bereaved family are enjoined to moral support, not psychological torture of being chased away from the burial site or the sight of their kin literally thrown into shallow grave.
There is danger in creating a stigma around coronavirus and that would undermine collective resolve to fight it. Kenya and the rest of the world learnt about stigmatisation during the early years of HIV/Aids in the 1980s, when those infected were isolated and the dead buried in a huff without dignity. It was not until the world learnt about treating HIV-infections with dignity that the war was won. We have such experience and evidence to bank on. Those infected by coronavirus should not be stigmatised.
The Health and Interior ministries must take action on those overzealous individuals who traumatised a family and shocked the nation with such ruthless interment of a decent man. Importantly, such should never recur.
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