The post-COVID-19 pandemic era is beckoning, it is within grasp and its commencement period will definitely be invisible and come about in a subtle way.
The County Governments, the County Assemblies, the elected Members of Parliament, the Senate, National Government structures in the Counties, you, me, we have a responsibility to review what has happened and take it in. Even more vital, all of us in the Counties of Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia, Vihiga, and Trans Nzoia must take stock of the disruptions, upending of our social, economic and political affairs, lives the COVID-19 pandemic has wrecked since March this year to the present time, and start constructing a new world, way of dealing with the challenges and opportunities that stare at us.
We must not just relapse to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic “modus operandi” status quo, for then we will have learnt nothing from the social, political and economic ravages the pandemic has unleashed.
The economic ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic are far from over, in fact the more painful effects are yet to be felt as the contraction of economic activities now going to six months means inevitably that there will be more unemployment, less money in circulation, more and more people slipping into absolute poverty.
We must resist the temptation, the attraction to be sucked into visionless, thoughtless, foolish politics for the sake of politics without identifying the vital interests at stake for our survival and prosperity.
We need to face the stark reality and stop building castles, living in utopia by deluding ourselves that the good things of life will just drop from heaven without hard work, planning and ruthless execution to achieve them.
The political class must be told in no uncertain terms to stop fooling around with our lives by spewing rhetoric platform to platform and be called upon to deliver and present concrete solutions to our problems to enable the region forge a better, brighter, more prosperous post-COVID-19 pandemic Western Kenya that is different.
Time to craft and execute a post COVID-19 pandemic Marshal plan to transform our homeland is now, not tomorrow. We must adapt or sink deeper into poverty, disease and ignorance.