Lady MPs, stop crying and help pregnant mothers!

Dear lady members of the august House,

Receive my greetings waheshiwa Millie Odhiambo, the ‘dani (I understand you loathe being Kikuyunised as shosh) of the House’, Gathoni wa Muchomba (the face of ‘Team Kusikiza Ground’) and company. Kindly allow me not to mention all of you in this short epistle.

Honourable members, let’s have a conversation on a subject that made you wail at a presser at Parliament Buildings on Tuesday. All mothers deserve respect for honouring the calling to motherhood and, therefore, anyone who makes it his/her business to advance their cause, warrants a pat on the back. As Chinua Achebe says in Things Fall Apart, “mother is supreme”. 

In the presser, you vowed to take action against Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha if she doesn’t address the doctors’ strike and, most importantly, the policy and funding gaps or the death of Linda Mama programme, in five days. You were so loud I need not amplify the message.

However, I have a bone to pick with you, honourable members. You spoke so helplessly! Your address didn’t inspire any hope in the people you speak for, and who look up to you for leadership. You crushed it. So hard! The address was akin to a case of a father asking his children “What do you want me to do?” when they seek protection from danger. 

For heaven’s sake, you are part of the government you want us to hate for scraping Linda Mama. Kenyans don’t expect you to seek sympathy on matters within your mandate to solve. You are the nation’s lawmakers, for crying out loud!

Understandably, it’s regrettable that the matters you raised have been so trivialised that are now being addressed in tribal funeral meetings. Community leaders now view it as persecution of one of their own. Sad how Kenyans choose lenses through which to view issues of national and public interest!

But, just to remind you honourable lady MPs, you wield the role of speaking for the voiceless voters you represent in Parliament, making national laws and rules (including on Linda Mama), and checking the excesses of the Executive. On the maternity insurance cover, you did right to fault the government for rolling back such an achievement, but you can still legislate to entrench it in law and right the wrongs.

Linda Mama has been very supportive to millions of poor mothers before, during and after child-birth for the decade it lasted and cannot be discarded so arbitrarily. Birthed in 2013 and later incorporated into the NHIF in 2017, Linda Mama was a game-changer till the SHIF idea came up last year. The model was an envy of neighbours across the continent and Namibia is already benchmarking on it.

Though Nakhumicha and other government officials assure it will be addressed when SHIF is rolled out in July, there are concerns about what will happen before then since NHIF is largely defunct now. The concern has been raised in many quarters and Nakhumicha and her boss the President should be taking note.

Honourable members, as you gave Nakhumicha the ultimatum a few  questions came to mind. First, what would be the consequences for her noncompliance? Impeachment? And, in case you succeed in the vote of no confidence against her, what would be the immediate solution to the problem at hand? Will mothers now have it easy delivering in hospitals or will those due for delivery put it on hold until July? I guess not!

Kindly think about legislating an interim solution for mothers before the July promise. This is squarely within your purview. Again, curiously, when the SHIF bill came to you for legislation, didn’t you foresee the gaps or did you sleep on the job?

Honourable members, populism and sensationalism won’t help. Do the right thing. Do the mothers of this nation proud. Follow in the path of Justice Njoki Ndung’u, who when she served as Nominated MP (2003-2007) saw a legal gap and gifted this nation a sexual offences law. Do it for the womenfolk.

Millie, Wamuchomba and company, over to you.

—The writer is an editor with People Daily – [email protected]