Let's talk about this cholera outbreak, and why it is so dangerous. It goes beyond the disease, and into something much wider.
First, let me scare you. Cholera is not just 'kuhara'; it goes beyond normal food poisoning. Cholera is so devastating to the human body that it simply drains you of the fluid in your body, leading to electrolyte imbalance, organ failure, and death. Cholera can kill within the course of a day - someone who was fine in the morning can ingest vibrio cholerae, get ill, and die by evening. Think about how serious this is - you may claim to be the careful person who doesn't eat salads unless you prepare them yourself, or doesn't eat in vibandas. But do you monitor everything your child ingests while in school? Have you audited the entire food handling chain that they're exposed to, including snack vendors? You could say goodbye to a healthy child in the morning and find that child in the ICU (or worse) by evening.
(Here's the good news: cholera affects fewer than half of the population, even when they're exposed to vibrio cholerae. Also, even when ill, the disease is (relatively) easy to treat - with oral rehydration, patients will make a full recovery if caught early. Also, there are vaccines against the disease).
With the potential devastation the disease can cause, catching it early (and diagnosing it correctly), and, most importantly, surveillance, is the best defence. Figuring out where a disease started, and how it spread, are crucial. These measures will tell you whether there is a reservoir of the disease. Deliberate misdiagnosis, or preferential treatment of disease hotspots, for the sake of political gain, is not just stupid, it is bordering on criminal negligence. By the same token, taking unrealistic action, such as declaring that all food handlers need to be re-certified, without any provision for how this re-certification shall happen quickly, correctly and effectively is ineffectively foolish. (Postscript - no one has bothered to follow this edict up - all food handlers, as far as I can see, are still at work).
Which brings me to the wider implications. When we agree to be governed, we make an explicit deal: we will give up some of our freedoms, and powers, to institutions that will do certain things on our behalf and in our name. We don't have the individual capacity, or time, to ensure that our public health is in order, which is why we delegate that responsibility to the Ministry of Health. We delegate responsibility to institutions such as the Kenya Bureau of Standards, and different county inspectorates, to ensure that the products we consume, and how they are handled and prepared, are up to scratch. After all, we cannot all, individually, inspect restaurant and hotel kitchens every time we want to have a meal. We do not have the capacity to individually inspect all the farms, and abbatoirs, before we buy food and eat it. So when the institutions we give this power to (and pay for) decide to corrupt this process, or subvert it for political purposes, it is a devastating (and potentially deadly) betrayal of our trust. It is criminal dereliction of duty.
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