The government needs to rethink how it manages isolation and quarantine centres.
At the moment, the centres are badly managed and have become a veritable source of resentment. And that is perilous.
It erodes citizens’ confidence and undermines their trust and faith in government and largely in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Yet the war against Covid-19 is collective. Citizens must cooperate with the government for the campaign to succeed.
But they cannot cooperate when the very government criminalises and stigmatises institutions and processes that are meant to curb the spread of the virus.
It is distressing that quarantine centres have become mini-prisons. Reports from the centres are horrifying. Individuals are seized and thrown into the centres without essential provisions.
The centres are not properly managed. There are no controls, people interact easily and share facilities without due regard to hygiene protocols.
Essential utilities are sorely lacking. Medical tests take long to be administered and so are the results.
Related to that, individuals are not advised on what to expect and how to behave while under quarantine.
Not surprisingly, extreme cases have been reported of partying and merrymaking at the centres. The whole set-up provides a conducive environment for infections.
Matters have been made worse in recent weeks when quarantine is prescribed as a penalty for anyone found flouting restrictions such as the curfew or travel into and out of locked jurisdictions like Nairobi and some coastal towns.
The authorities, and especially police officers, have been unequivocal that anyone found transgressing those regulations will be put into forced quarantine at their cost. Precisely, the message is that quarantining is punitive and not a safety measure.
The widely publicised daring escape of some individuals quarantined at the Kenya Medical Training College in Nairobi this week was quite reprehensible as it was irresponsible.
But it should serve as a pointer to a bigger problem. Among others, it demonstrated that there is no proper security and surveillance.
Importantly, it amply demonstrates the discontent among those put at the centres and which makes them so suicidal as to plot such dangerous escape.
We do not condone such recklessness. However, we are asking the government to evaluate how it manages these centres.
They are neither police cells nor prisons. Individuals do not become criminals because they have been sent to the centres. Neither do they lose rights and dignity.
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