Lukoye Atwoli, MBS, MKNAS (Free Radical)
@LukoyeAtwoli
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Dean @AKUMCEA |Dep. Director @AKU_BMI |Member @theNAMedicine and KNAS |Past Pres. #AfCNP |Chair, Mathari Hospital Board |Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear
Nairobi, Kenya
Joined July 2009
Dear Kenyan politicians. Let me be frank with you. Some of you will NOT be here when the schemes you are plotting come to fruition. My advice: Cook up schemes to empower health workers to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, because then you’ll have a better chance of survival.
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Dear @PoliceKE and @IG_NPS, please listen carefully. Stop using quarantine centers as remand centers or avenues for detention without trial. You are compromising the #COVID19KE response. Law-breakers should be processed through the legal justice system, not the health system.
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Many are asking why COVID-19 numbers here haven’t hit the modeled “5000 by mid-April”. Here’s why: You can’t confirm 5000 cases if you have only tested 2366 people. At the current rate of ~9% of tests being positive, you’d need to test ~55000 to get 5000 cases. Testing! . Sawa?.
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And finally now, when you call me “Prof”, I will not look over my shoulder (the fate of all Associate Professors). I thank @AKUGlobal for recognizing me with this distinction of Professor. You may still call me “doc”, since I must still take care of the sick and infirm!. Sawa?.
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Truly humbled!.
Professor Lukoye Atwoli, Dean of AKU Medical College, East Africa and Associate Director of the Brain and Mind Institute, has been elected as an international member to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)! 🏥🏆👏. More:
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1. We need to get those ARVs cleared for use before they go bad. 2. Demanding for tax from donors of vital medications is just sick. 3. Government needs to change how it does things, and put the people at the centre of its operations. /1.
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People. We now have widespread COVID-19 community transmission. Last night we lost two doctors who had been in treatment at hospitals in Nairobi. Six doctors this week. Please let’s take precautions to prevent COVID-19 spread. Health workers have no choice but to treat you!.
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Please tell your school-going children that the outcome of their best effort will be good enough for you. They will thrive on this affirmation. We are seeing way too many stressed children trying to stretch themselves beyond their best effort, and breaking themselves instead.
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We’ve been fighting for this for a long time! So happy to have the courts agree with us that people who attempt suicide should enter the health care system rather than the criminal justice system!.
Attempted suicide is not a crime anymore!.Justice Mugambi declares Section 226 of the Penal Code unconstitutional for violating Articles 27, 28 & 43 of the Constitution of Kenya.🇰🇪.Mental health rights are human rights!.#hakikwawotekilawakati .#MentalHealthAwareness #mentalhealth
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As a State Officer, the president cannot trademark or patent anything he says or does while in office. Anything he says or does while in office is property of the State. The lawyer is the only one making money in this instance. Am I wrong?.
KIPI GRANTS President Ruto rights to trademark mambo ni matatu; his lawyer Adrian Kamotho says people must seek permission to use the phrase alongside three fingers.
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This budget of Kes 204,000,000,000 amounts to a salary and emoluments figure of Kes 14,166,666.7 per month for each intern for a year. If each of the said 1200 interns is paid Kes 206,000, that budget would be enough to pay them for 82,524 YEARS, and leave some loose change.
“The budget we have set aside of Ksh 204 billion, can afford to accommodate all the 1,200 interns with the Ksh 70,000 salary, but if they want Ksh 206,000, we will be forced to take some few of about 100, which will lead to a backlog of approximately five years.”.- Felix Koskei,
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Twenty years ago on this date I passed my final exams in medical school and earned the right to be called a doctor. It’s been quite the ride, I’d say. Here’s to another twenty years of making a difference in medicine, in health, and in mental health!.
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Two months ago USA had had COVID-19 for ~2 months, and had 546 confirmed cases and 22 deaths. Today the US reports >1.3 million cases and >79k deaths. In Kenya today, ~2 months since our first case, we have 649 cases and 30 deaths. Hopefully in 2 months we’ll be better. 🤞🏿🤞🏿🤞🏿.
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Whoever is running @KBonimtetezi’s twitter account needs to be consulting regularly with him before responding to some tweets or speaking to tweeps in particular ways. This is just plain embarrassing for someone who claims to have received a medical education from the @uonbi.
Mr Dida, post ua wive's nudes to demonstrate ua solidarity. .
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All set to see my next client this morning.
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The Supreme Court of Kenya is NOT some six (or seven) people. It is an institution deriving its mandate directly from WE the People. Sawa?.
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I take this opportunity to thank my colleagues for having sufficient confidence in me and electing me to the position of President-Elect of the African College of NeuroPsychopharmacology! Congratulations too to my colleagues elected to the Executive Committee!. Asanteni sana!
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Hey. DM me. I’ll pay his fees to Form 4. This is really touching.
The follow up (THREAD).*Read previous thread if you to follow this* 2 days later, I locate Riruta Central High School, I wasn't sure what I was expecting before I got there but the pictures tell a story. And yes, they have a boarding facility which would be good for Jacob Otieno
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Dear @RailaOdinga. I believe there is no good time to say a bad thing. But any time is a good time to apologize for causing pain. You said this on the day doctors had suspended their strike to foster conciliation. You said this on the day a young doctor died of COVID-19.
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This is not something we should tolerate in the open and transparent society we promised ourselves in the CoK2010. It is a deplorable tactic from a bygone era. Forced disappearances and arbitrary arrests will not quell the public outrage about the Finance Bill 2024. Deal with it!.
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For anyone singing the ‘herd immunity’ song on COVID-19, pause a little. The science is still evolving. But no infectious disease has ever been eradicated by ‘herd immunity’ without a vaccine. Also, I know several colleagues and friends who have been infected twice in 3 months.
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Dear Kenyans. There is indeed a bug going around with similar clinical features to COVID-19. Yes, it could be a seasonal flu. Just remember that SARS-COV-2 enters your system in exactly the same way as that bug. So your risk of getting COVID-19 is high if you get the bug.
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If this is true, why is the impeached former deputy president still a free man? Shouldn’t he already have been charged with abduction and illegal detention of these youth? Since some of them have turned up dead, aren’t murder charges part of the mix?.This is very sad.
@AokoOtieno_ Gachagua was the orchestrator of abductions AND Shame on you Governor Natembeya, you cannot complain about abductions when you were the key abductor of Kenyans under the last regime-Kimani Ichung'wah
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Honored to accept this role at @AKUGlobal to help develop and mentor the next generation of medical practitioners and health workers, who must not only be nimble enough to excel anywhere in the world, but also grounded enough to contextualize and apply their knowledge locally.
We’re excited to welcome Professor Lukoye Atwoli to the AKU family, who will join us as Dean of Medical College, East Africa on 1st August 2020. Prof @LukoyeAtwoli is a Professor in Psychiatry with extensive leadership, teaching, and research experience
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This is a minister in the Kenya Government. We wish our government well and want it to succeed. Because when the government succeeds we all thrive. And then we have to contend with this….
CS Moses Kuria: I really want to have a discussion with my brother CS Machogu and ask ourselves; shouldn't we then be limiting the number of people doing medicine, probably we need to because right now people are going to all sorts of universities doing this medicine with floor
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I can also tell you without fear of contradiction that death completely eliminates your risk of getting COVID-19. 100%. There is such a thing as clinically (or practically) useless but statistically significant epidemiological findings.
Research by top French Medical Researchers & Doctors at Pitié-Salpêtrière-Salpêtrière, its top Hospital shows that only 5% of Smokers got COVID-19 . Preliminary research show that nicotine protects against COVID-19 infection . Smokers are thus the most safe . #covid19kenya.
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I’d be excited to host President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Cabinet either at @HospitalMathari or at @AKUHNairobi as they receive their #COVID19 vaccines in order to demonstrate their faith in science, just as we have done ourselves. Cc @StateHouseKenya.
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Friends: I have only left one office a year early. I will still do all the other things I’ve always done- teaching and supervising students, conducting research, and seeing patients when I can. Like the man said, friends, “Weep not for me, but for yourselves and your children!”.
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The counselor on @citizentvkenya discussing the mental state of the young man who killed his family is really really pushing it. My advice to her to to stop speculating about this unless she has actually examined him. Also, blaming dead parents!. She’s really pushing it!.
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Who’s that on @citizentvkenya who is confidently saying that “University education is overrated”?. Who is doing the rating? Himself? According to what scale?. What is the philosophy of education in this country? Is “University education is overrated” an education philosophy?. Nkt.
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I still refuse to accept wage bill as the reason for our ballooning budget deficit. The true reason is biro pens bought at KES 10,000 each and wheelbarrows bought at KES 800,000 each. And unaccounted-for billions. And corrupt mega projects. Theft, not salaries, is the problem.
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This was a real honour!.
Today, I hosted a celebration to appreciate and honour the many achievements that my son, Prof. Lukoye Atwoli, @LukoyeAtwoli, has achieved over a very short time and at his youthful age. Also present in the celebrations were Dr. Frank Njenga, Prof. Henry Alube and the many who
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Today 22% of all those tested for COVID-19 in Kenya turned positive. Hospital labs are reporting even higher rates. Community transmission is well established. Interventions have not changed. Mask. Hygiene. Distance. Vaccine when you are eligible. Keep safe.
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I’m hearing claims that Africans are so incapable of developing products scientifically that we must just accept African products without subjecting them to ‘scientific’ processes. This is insulting to the African farmer who scientifically improves her yields every year. 1/6.
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Absolutely chuffed to be recognized by colleagues at the Kenya Psychiatric Association Annual Conference 2022!
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@KBonimtetezi Dear Dr @KBonimtetezi. I instruct you in the name of @KenyaMedics_KMA to pull down the graphic photo of the deceased you’ve posted here. In line with the code you subscribe to that is enforced by the @KmpdcOfficial you know that it is inappropriate. Please.
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Had the opportunity to meet and listen to @DrTedros last night. The passion shone through, and I left convinced that there are still good people out here constantly worrying about our health in a truly global way. Keep it up, sir!
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Someone sold hundreds of thousands of bags of sieved soil as fertilizer, to thousands of farmers across the country. This degree of moral depravity is absolutely horrendous.
After @Cynthia_Gichiri @AfUncensored sought comment from @KEBS_ke , their MD says they took 59 samples of SBL/GPC organic fertilizer from @NCPB_KE depots across Kenya and tested them. Not even one sample turned out to be organic fertilizer. NOT. EVEN. ONE. SAMPLE. This product.
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The civil service is being abolished. We’re destroying a long tradition of government that will mean that every new government will start from scratch, and there will be no certainty for any government worker. It’s an experiment that has been tried before and failed. Kenya.
They started with doctors. Now they're coming for everybody .#DoctorsStrikeKE .#ImplementCBA2017.#SupportKenyanDoctors.#PostDoctorInterns.#PayResidentDoctors.#EmployJoblessDoctors
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There are those who harshly shout at me (us), “Stop fear-mongering!”. They forget (or might not know) that my daily bread is earned from studying disease and related data, and making sense of it. And publishing as much new data as I’m able to.
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1. Forms 34A on the @IEBCKenya portal can be deleted and replaced after being uploaded by KIEMS. 2. They said this wasn't possible. Huh?.
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Let me come back again. Over 80% of all the people who have so far tested positive for COVID-19 will have only mild or no symptoms. The vast majority will not need much by way of treatment. So the statistics being shared are not meant to scare anyone, but just to help us prepare.
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1. We are in a mortal emergency.2. We need to test widely and massively.3. We are told there’s a global shortage of test kits.4. But private facilities are somehow able to acquire and sell the tests.5. Also, after we mandatorily test you we isolate you. AT YOUR OWN COST!. Jokers!.
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A person who attributes his or her “okayness” to being beaten as a child is definitely not okay. There are so many factors one can attribute their “okayness” to. Being physically assaulted at any age is not one of them.
If I was not caned, you wouldn’t be seeing Magoha son of Magoha standing here: Prof. Magoha.
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@chebet_birir “Nothing happened to unvaccinated people btw.” This is a meaningless statement. Many things happened to them. Many things happened to vaccinated people too. A comparison between the two groups would tell you whether one group suffered more than the other. And the data is there.
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Dear @DrAlfredMutua PhD. What are YOU doing? Or is your doctorate just a piece of paper to feed rodents?.
What are our scientists and professors doing? Waiting for others to find a cure for Covid-19? Aiiiiiiiii.
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I hate to say this, not being American and all, but this American President has made being rude okay. It’s terrifying what is being normalized in these uncertain times- racism, anti-intellectualism, misogyny, religious bigotry, boastfulness, tantrums. all these are now okay.
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Why would you ask a random guy to advise the nation on #COVID19? Is there a scarcity of knowledgeable folk?.
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Kenyans. Someone is working very hard to make you fight. Ignore the idiot.
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The gentleman, allegedly from Homa Bay, who has posted a video of himself in an isolation centre while claiming he is not sick but is only recovering from ‘malaria’ should serve as a cautionary tale. Kenyan ‘Malaria’ is exactly how COVID-19 presents. Be careful, people!.
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It’s okay to not be okay. Take a break and take care of yourself. The game, the media, the fans, they can wait.
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The Cuban Experiment has failed spectacularly, and now our beloved @MOH_Kenya is asking that they be paired with qualified Kenyan doctors for “mentorship”. Hii Kenya iko na shortage ya idiots!. Tuendelee au tusiendelee?.Tuendelee au tusiendelee?.Tuendelee au tusiendelee?
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The leader of the majority in Senate, a high-ranking government official with access to the high echelons of the Executive, is lamenting on Twitter about what government is not doing. I don’t know, perhaps Senate can express itself on this? Or is there a resolution I missed?.
23 bodies are still missing in Marakwet landslide tragedy. These people are searching for their loved ones. RC Natembeya and the Military went their took pictures and left. meanwhile thousands of them are without shelter.What the hell is going on in this country? @FredMatiangi
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Initially, the security types ignored the health folk and took over decision-making on #COVID19 in Kenya. Now the businessmen are gaining the upper hand. We will only turn back to the health folk when things go haywire (again), asking them “where were you when this happened?”.
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Then and now. with twenty years in between!
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Based on observed trends, our COVID-19 positivity rate will peak between 45-55% over the coming 1-2 weeks. Hospitalization will rise driven mainly by underlying conditions and fevers, sore throats, aches and pains, rather than breathing difficulties. Deaths will remain low. 🤞🏿.
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Number Nation:. Birth Certificate Number.School Admission Number.ID Number.Passport Number.KRA PIN Number.NHIF Number.NSSF Number.Staff ID Number.Personal Number.Bank Account Number.Kenya Power Account Number.Water Account Number.Driving License Number. And now:. HUDUMA NUMBER!.
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Exponential phase of #COVID19KE. Day 1: I don’t personally know anyone who has contracted COVID-19. Day 2: A friend’s brother has just tested positive. Day 3: My brother says he’s tested positive. Day 4: My entire office is in isolation. Day 5: COVID-19 is REAL! Take care!.
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7. As we shout about sovereignty and whatnot let’s also raise the money to pay for key state functions like health, security, education, and infrastructure. 8. Otherwise we’re just clueless idiots biting our benefactors when it suits us and begging for help when in need. ENDS.
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Yes, you are being scammed, and I thought you should know!.
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A lot of the discourse and decisions in Global Health are inherently racist. Sometimes not deliberately so, but the actors who do not pause to consider this make racist choices. Like saying a vaccine used in the UK, if administered in Africa, becomes “unapproved” in the UK.
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Dear @BmarshallCGTN, do you know that we have evidence of infected but asymptomatic people transmitting the virus? The ‘screening’ you speak of looks for signs of infection. Having said that, I’d advice we all listen to experts on this matter, rather than all the rest of you!.
This is totally false information. All passengers from China are first screened at homes in China, then on public transport, at exit port, before boarding, on the plane on arrival, at port of entry, and monitored daily on arrival during the 14 day self quarantine. Many checks.
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Tanzania becomes the first African country to eradicate COVID-19. There’re only four active cases in Dar, according to the president, quoting his health minister. It would appear that this miraculous feat was achieved by way of “putting God first”, as suggested by the president.
"Corona is finished!" Pombe Magufuli declares. No more masks, no social distancing. Muaminini Mungu Watanzania, he tells his people.
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One of the biggest problems in Kenya is quackery, fakery, and impersonation. Here is a person without any medical qualification passing himself off as a surgeon. For his pains he was nominated to parliament. Here’s what’s wrong with this country.
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Dear Kenyans asking for a ‘lockdown’. I asked you what that means. None of you knew. (Un)fortunately the security forces have a ready answer to this question. Today’s enforcement of the ‘curfew’ in some areas in this country should tell you how a ‘lockdown’ would look like.
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The greatest moral problem in Kenya today is not that some people ‘dress badly’ or that LGBTIQ folk want an NGO and the acknowledgment of their rights. The greatest moral scandal is that we are okay losing lives to things like hunger and diarrhea. And lying about it. Nkt!.
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In medicine, “Any medication” is not always better than “no medication”. Sometimes the best treatment is to give no medication.
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I think Medical Schools and other health training institutions in Kenya should be open in the time of COVID-19.
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Just been elected Vice-President of the @WPA_Psychiatry Epidemiology and Public Section, with the new President @epi_kerrykeyes (on my right) and other Board members! A lovely end to a wonderful meeting!
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#COVID19KE- Pathway to a rational response:Test, Trace, Isolate; Surveillance; Hardware; Health Workers; Supply Chain; Coordination; Communication. Bare bones overview.
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All set to join our Graduands later today at the #AKUConvocation #AKU20. @AKUMCEA @AKUGlobal @AKUHNairobi
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The ridiculousness of these decisions is beyond measure. If this is how we are handling this pandemic we better just reopen the country and face the consequences individually. Every person for themselves. We have no idea what we are dealing with here.
Pain Of Isolation: .Govt says patients must take care of their bills.Several patients at KU who have recovered detained .Patients claims government was to pay treatment bills .#NewsNight.@WaihigaMwaura
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This is actually a stupid statement:. 1. You indicate that people you pay using public funds are unable to do their job, yet you continue to pay them. 2. You endorse a private militia to do public work (on whose tab?). 3. You are calling this “progress”. Idiocy knows no limit!
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A lockdown without a plan is worse no intervention at all.
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Another colleague. A rare specialist. Neurologist. Gone. In one of the languages I speak, we say “Keshialo namatinyu!”. Someone on my TL will translate.
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A very human plea to a Kenyan MP who’s pushing an agenda of hate against a section of Kenyans. I live for the day we’ll see all humans as persons deserving to be treated with dignity and love, and not be victimized for who they are, how they live, and who they love.
Hon. George Peter Kaluma @gpdkaluma [A THREAD]. 1. I honestly don't think this will change your mind about me, people like me, and those who support people like me. I will post it anyway because. why not. Let's get this out of the way. I am Kenyan. I am homosexual.
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‘Barometer’ in the Sunday Nation has taken an indefinite break. We’ll continue expressing ourselves on other fora. Thanks for the readership and engagement over the past 13 years!.
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12.26% COVID-19 positivity rate today in Kenya. And 10 deaths. Take care, people. Take care.
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A thief who, after getting caught, offers to share the proceeds of theft with the aggrieved persons. That’s what NCCK is proposing.
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We still don’t want you, @kimidefreytas. Let @nytimes find someone else to run their bureau here. You’re definitely not welcome here. The callousness you’ve displayed today is not welcome here. Kwaheri.
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But also:. 4. Kenyans need to make up their minds. 5. Our HIV, TB, and Malaria programmes are funded by donors including Bill Gates et al. 6. Some of us have here have stridently accused these donors of wanting to kill all of us, this time with COVID-19 and its vaccines. /2.
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If you are itching to “live with COVID-19” the same way we live with the common cold, you have to make it similar to the common cold:. Vaccinate ALL eligible people. Have enough critical care capacity for anyone who may need it. Strengthen primary care. That’s it. No shortcuts.
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In Kenya, we are entering the climax of the anti-intellectual anti-professional era. Every idiot is demanding the privileges of their dream profession without the requisite rigors. We’ll be here a while. Hopefully there’ll be something left when we’re done. Brace yourselves.
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The Cuban ‘deal’:. 1. We imported Cuban ‘doctors’ without looking at their papers. 2. We exported our doctors into slavery, without any details about the bogus ‘course’ they were going to pursue. Kenyans’ blood now stains those behind the ‘deal’. A plague on all of them!.
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@MissMwanyigha No, thank you. My message is that “People should run for fitness, not to keep others alive!”. As I said three years ago.
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It is a very sad moment for Kenya to see a Cuban person of unknown qualifications seeing patients in our county hospitals; the parallel of that is young Kenyan doctors struggling in vain for employment and training opportunities. - Lukoye Atwoli #AMLiveNTV @debarlinea.
It's a very sad moment for Kenya to see a Chinese person putting up goods in Gikomba and Riverroad; the parallel of that is goods belonging to Kenyan traders are held at the port. - Alice Wahome #AMLiveNTV @debarlinea
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70% of US adults have received at least 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. ~3.5% of Kenyan adults have received at least 1 dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The US has the luxury of discussing vaccine hesitancy. We only discuss vaccine scarcity. The reality of Global Health Apartheid.
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Lovely surprise to learn today that President Uhuru Kenyatta conferred on me and several colleagues the award of Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (M.B.S.) in a Special Gazette issue dated 8th July 2022!
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I have said before, and I repeat here and now: @IEBCKenya does not know how to count. What a pity!.
The Commission has recalled the 2017 General Election data that was uploaded on the IEBC website after afew typographic errors occasioned by massive data were noted.The corrected document will be re-uploaded and shared in due course. Inconvenience caused highly regrettable.
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In Kenyan officialdom, we have a failure with humanity. From road contractors who don’t care about road-users, to leaders who loot and lie, to absentee public servants, to caregivers who harm…. We have a failure of humanity. How do we fix this?.
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There’s a country in which there are worrying happenings. There are widespread protests against police brutality and their president has threatened to unleash the military on protesters. Shouldn’t we have a UN Resolution on this? Shouldn’t we consider a peacekeeping operation?.
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I am a firm panafricanist. I think in modern times Africa has had a raw deal in global affairs. But I also think our modern African leaders make decisions that are hard to justify, like testing pawpaws for COVID-19 as a method of checking the validity and reliability of a test.
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This is just plain stupid. The cynical narcissist is he who exploits the suffering of others to call attention to himself. Absolute idiocy.
*NEW COLUMN*.Narcissistic Naomi's cynical exploitation of mental health to silence the media is right from the Meghan & Harry playbook of wanting their press cake and eating it.
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The convention for all suicide reporting is to use ‘died by suicide’ rather than ‘committed suicide’. And to avoid giving graphic details of the method. And finally, to include at the end of the story information on how a suicidal person can access help. Spread the word. Thanks.
I prefer the term 'die by suicide' used by most of the American media, compared to 'commit suicide' more common internationally.
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Such an honour!.
Congratulations again to @LukoyeAtwoli of @AKUMCEA for being elected to the National Academy of Medicine last year! #NAMclassof2023
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Kenya’s curriculum development experts, philosophers, and policy-makers agree that the function of an average Kenyan’s head is to carry loads ON it. Just so you know.
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Two thirds of eligible voters in the US have already voted, three days to the election date. Think upon that, dear Kenyans.
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