As the country was announcing restriction to curb the spread of coronavirus, the Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe constantly said, “we’re all in this together”.
So when the rich and powerful break the guidelines, it provokes public anger and puts communities’ inequalities on the full picture.
In Europe, an EU Commissioner Phil Hogan resigned from his post last week for breaking coronavirus restrictions by attending a political golf society. Hogan was just the latest politician to be caught flouting the rules.
A minister in Ireland also resigned over the so-called Golfgate scandal. The dinner was held after the government imposed restrictions that limited gatherings to six people.
On the other hand, New Zealand health minister, David Clark, was forced to resign after missteps including breaking the stay-at-home order by the government to take his family to the beach.
Social distancing seems to have been largely disregarded in Kenya today. In perhaps the most striking example, many people gathering at market places with few people wearing masks as they interact and buy items.
The behavior of some politicians and government officers have come to exemplify a double standard in the public mind where ordinary wananchi are expected to follow the rules while the elite can apparently break them with impunity.
Such behaviors have a lasting impact on the public’s willingness to abide by the restrictions by the ministry of health
When high profile individuals are called upon to resign or arrested for violating the restriction, it gives ordinary citizens a sense of disenfranchisement since it drives a message that it’s one rule for us, as in the privileged, and the other for them.
Celebrities, sports stars, and members of the cultural elite have also been caught flouting the Covid-19 restrictions too.
