Kenya on Sunday marked 100 days since the first case of coronavirus was reported in the country, but there is one name that has dominated news over that period. Mutahi Kagwe.
The Health Cabinet Secretary, whose name has become synonymous with Covid-19 in the minds of many Kenyans, on Monday, while speaking to NTV, said the fight against the virus has not been smooth.
LOTS OF LAUGHTER
The CS had been in office for two weeks before March 13, when the first case of the virus was confirmed in the country.
He may be the face of Kenya’s fight against coronavirus, but his daily briefings to the country have not been short of light moments. Some have stuck with Kenyans.
Kagwe said that despite the seriousness of the virus, he takes all the jokes Kenyans make about him in his stride.
“I laugh like everybody else, I sing along, ‘You can gerrit, I can gerrit, we all can gerrit’, I just go along, and when they propose there is a new meal ‘Kagwe speshio’ I go someplace and order,” a jovial Kagwe said.
SAUSAGE AND BEER
One new phrase that is associated with the CS is ‘Kagwe speshio’ which was coined after he reprimanded Kenyans who have been abusing the government’s decision to reopen restaurants and eateries.
He pointed out that there are alcohol lovers who have been hopping from one restaurant to another taking ‘one sausage and two beers’ until they have drunk enough.
“People have been going to pubs or to eateries, they order one sausage and two beers then go to another restaurant and have another sausage and two more beers… go to another and ask for an orange, in the name of a dessert, then take two more beers… Surely? What is that? What are you doing?” he posed back then.
‘YOU CAN GERRIT’
Then last month he emphasised the need for Kenyans to be extra cautious of how they carry themselves in public places and to stop any chances of them contracting coronavirus.
No one is immune, he said, and therefore it is everybody’s individual responsibility to protect themselves and their loved ones.
“Anybody can gerrit, you can gerrit, I can gerrit,” Mr Kagwe said.
That statement went viral as Kenyans relished Kagwe’s newfound American twang.
‘WAZIRI WA CORONA’
But one phrase that he is not particularly flattered with is the nickname ‘waziri wa corona’ or ‘mtu wa corona’.
“I hear now children are calling me ‘Waziri wa Corona’, they are forgetting the other roles of the ministry. It is good to clarify this is the Ministry of Health and not the ministry of coronavirus,” he said amid laughter.
