Cabinet secretary Fred Matiang’i became famous – or infamous, depending on how one looked at him – when he served in Education. He did many things, but he quickly became well known for impromptu visits to schools, which often left principals flustered to the point of wetting themselves.
A boss storming a workplace unannounced to see how things are going is not a particularly pleasant (or effective) management style. People do not produce great results under duress. Staff work better when they have a sense of ownership of whatever they are doing – not when all the time they are glancing over their shoulder in case the boss storms in.
Moreover – and this is a major point – in many public institutions, equipment and working conditions in general are in such a deplorable state that it is a miracle the workers are able to meet any targets at all. To hold them responsible for systemic failures is insensitive and goes against natural justice.
Yet this is what Nairobi governor Mike Sonko did last week, with the media cheering. Sonko stormed Pumwani Maternity Hospital incognito and “discovered” 12 corpses of babies “hidden” in boxes. He streamed his visit live on his Facebook page – and the “news” instantly hit mainstream media platforms.
Here was a hardworking and smart governor who had come upon negligence of the worst kind at the country’s largest maternity hospital. Sonko theatrically announced sackings of the hospital’s management and dismissed the board. He launched investigations.
“Sonko finds 12 dead babies hidden at Pumwani store,” the Star reported.
“Nairobi governor Mike Sonko yesterday discovered 12 bodies of infants stuffed in boxes at Pumwani Maternity Hospital,” the paper said. Stuffed in boxes.
“Mystery of dead foetuses at Pumwani,” read a headline in the People Daily.
“The shocking discovery was made during an impromptu visit by the governor yesterday morning. Sonko, who rode to the hospital on a boda boda, caught the management off guard,” the paper said.
“Pumwani on the spot over 12 infant deaths,” said the Standard.
“A hospital attendant tried to explain that the bodies were from last week. However, he could not explain why the bodies had been stored the way they were.”
That was the lead story in the evening news bulletins of TV and radio. Sonko’s raid was in the news all week.
Of course Sonko dramatized his impromptu visit for maximum bonga points. And the media swallowed the stunt hook, line and sinker.
“Sonko, through his Facebook page, said he conducted the impromptu raid after claims ‘by members of the public that the management shut down machines at the maternity wing leading to loss of lives of young ones’,” Citizen Digital reported.
Why would a hospital management shut down machines just like that? To kill babies?
In the mad rush to get the story out ahead of everyone – and considering the emotional value of stories about death, babies, young and beautiful women, etcetera – a story that might require a second look quickly gets a life of its own and journalists and editors are left with nothing else to do but run after it.
Sonko continued his charade the following day. Out of the blue, he donated mortuary coolers to Pumwani Hospital. Where were the coolers all along? Is it not likely Sonko staged his stunt to prepare minds for the donation? He was going to upgrade the hospital, etcetera.
But not everyone was impressed by Sonko’s theatrics and how, as result, he hogged the media limelight.
Social justice activist Cyprian Nyamwamu sparked some debate on his Facebook page when he told off the city governor:
“What is that Sonko was doing at the Pumwani Maternity? He does not know that there is no morgue at the Pumwani Maternity Hospital? That showbiz of his is so stupid. Stop him, do not cheer him. The county government has an enforcement department.”
But by far the best deconstruction of Mike Sonko came from Nelly Bosire, an obstetrician/gynaecologist who writes a column for the Standard. She penned a long post on social media which was widely shared. That was far better journalism than what the media houses ladled out.
“One more time Pumwani Hospital faces public mobbing, led by its very own governor. He suspends his foot soldiers instead of his ‘advisors’. What happened to facts? The press has joined in the lynching @KTNNews @ntvkenya @KTNKenya”, Bosire tweeted on September 17.
And then she presented the facts. Pumwani has no morgue. All bodies of deceased mothers, newborns and stillbirths are collected by the City Mortuary morticians in the morning. Before, this happened daily, nowadays it happens Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
“For little angels who pass on before birth or in the newborn units due to complications, the families have the option of taking them to bury or they can give them up and the hospital then has them buried. This happens in both public and private sector, permissible by law,” Bosire wrote.
“Pumwani has no body bags to keep the deceased in before transfer to mortuaries. Hospital staff have to make do with what’s available. Carton boxes and plastic disposal bags are the most available temporary storage for these little angels.”
Being a referral hospital, Pumwani receives many complicated cases and so 12 bodies from a weekend is nothing strange.
“Healthcare in Kenya is in the dumps right now. It is decisions like this that bury it further. Nairobi’s scorecard is not looking good. Then again, how can it when top leadership prefers to rule in this manner? Populist actions won’t stop babies from dying,” the doctor said.
Well, those are the facts. Most public hospitals in Kenya are just nice looking buildings. A hospital in the proper sense of the word means adequate medical and non-medical supplies, equipment and personnel.
The pressure to tell the story first – whenever Sonko or some other fat cat – pulls a stunt is sometimes unavoidable in the brave new world of 24-hour news. But journalists must remain sceptical about not just Sonko but everyone. All stories have important contexts that journalists ought to quickly analyse and file their reports accordingly.
And in every case, a scribe ought to think twice about impromptu raids popularised by Matiang’i and now adopted by Sonko as his preferred management style.
