It’s difficult to capture the mood in Nairobi these days. The reality of the pandemic is bearing down upon us once again and, as I write, the western third of the country remains under strict lockdown following the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant. The situation at the public hospitals is dire.
We know that all the major variants are in the country. Yet the government allowed the Safari Rally, a racing event that had been off the calendar for more than two decades, to go ahead in June. More still, the route took drivers through some of the country’s national park and protected areas. It’s as if the government, by suspending its own rules, was inviting us to suspend reality itself: an approach that many governments around the world seem to be employing. As we watch the Delta variant tear through neighbouring Uganda and South Africa, state sanctioned social gatherings continue almost unabated in Kenya, leading observers to fear that an India style third wave of epic proportions cannot be far away.
