Veteran Journalist Macharia Gaitho on Tuesday faced heavy backlash from angry netizens on social media following his careless remarks regarding the ongoing curfew during a morning radio show.
While appearing on Spice FM’s ‘The Situation Room’ the former Managing Editor at Daily Nation made the shocking claim that Kenyans’ poor sense of time management is the reason behind the ongoing curfew crisis that has rocked the 5 counties under lockdown.
According to Macharia Gaitho, Kenyans have no right to complain about the curfew enforcement because they had been previously faulting the government for not doing anything to respond to the pandemic.
“I am not saying that the curfew is right or that the way it is being enforced is right, but let us not be in this situation where we hammer the government for not doing anything to contain Corona and when they do something we start complaining of our rights being violated,” he began.
He added that Kenyans’ poor sense of time management is also one of the major factors contributing to the daily evening chaos we’ve witnessed the last few days.
“One of the realities is that quite often we are the problem. I think we should be knowing that if we are meant to be at a certain place at 8 pm then we have to know: What are the traffic conditions? How long will it take to get there and plan accordingly but we have a tendency where we are supposed to be somewhere at 8 pm but we leave home or our office at 8 pm,” he said.
.@MachariaGaitho: If you are supposed to be somewhere at 8pm, don't leave at 8pm. Plan even for traffic.#TheSituationRoom .@EricLatiff .@nduokoh .@ctmuga .@ktnhome_ pic.twitter.com/6wvE7YxfMj
— SpiceFM (@SpiceFMKE) April 20, 2021
Macharia’s remarks come a day after an uproar over a snarl-up at Thika Road on Sunday night where both residents and essential service providers were stuck on several roads, including the superhighway.
Some of the videos that went around on social media showed frustrated residents stuck in the night traffic past curfew, hoping the police who erected roadblocks would let them through.
They eventually did after a public outcry.
The snarl-up attracted mixed reaction, with some supporting the police, insisting that they were only doing their job, while others said there are no blanket rules in matters that touch on public health and human rights.
