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"Since the first case (of HIV) was reported in this country, had we come out vigorously to fight it we would not be where we are. We have lost so many lives because we denied it, we did not want to be associated with it, we gave all sorts of excuses and now time is up, time is over we now need to fight this disease."

This statement was recently made to a section of the media by the minister for health Charity Ngilu. Hot on it's heels came the exhortation last Saturday at Matilifu, Makueni District during a fund-raising for a women’s group for Kenyans to stop being afraid of talking about HIV/AIDS and sexuality.

The Minister vividly made her point at Manyani dispensary when she demonstrated how to use a condom. Bold statements. Pointed displays. Good intentions.

But even as the Honourable Minister was making these statements another lady, the First Lady, Lucy Kibaki was also last Saturday leading an estimated 10,000 women in a 10 kilometer run aimed at raising awareness on the scourge as well as funds for those afflicted.

To cap all these events, the world streamed into Nairobi the Kenyan capital in the form of delegates streaming in for the 13th. International Conference on Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA).

The run had the breathy slogan Women's Aids Run - In Africa, For Women About Children Against Aids and was part of the ICASA build-up events. But where were the men in all this?

Enter Mr. President Mwai Kibaki. If the men thought they could hide then here was a direct message for them. "They must make up their minds and stop spreading the deadly HIV/AIDS virus"

I am assured that the men are only required to make up their mind and promise God and the individuals here that we shall not continue to spread Aids. You are not a man if you don't make up your mind to stop spreading the disease," adding that "you have to do so because it's a challenge even at an individual level and by so doing you would have joined everyone else to ensure Aids is conquered."

Fine words. But whom exactly I began to wonder were they aimed at? All over Nairobi in bars and chang'aa (local fiery illicit brew) dens many of these 'men' sat watching the President glasses of legal or illicit liquor or beer tightly clutched in one hand with the other draped over their current ka-supu (girl friend) just having wondered in from the dingy lodging room nearby.

Others slunk out for quick bouts of drunken sex ('short-time') in the parlance, as they paid for using the dingy rooms, with unwashed, reeking sheets for periods as short as half an hour). Still another group snored gently (and not so gently) heads cradled in arms slumped over tables or on the laps women next to them, who in turn breathed nosily through wide open mouths with heads flung back carelessly against the dirty walls.

As President Kibaki's voice droned on from the TV placed in it's cage high up on the wall overlooking this bacchanalian scene I wondered which of these men could be listening?

While the women were running, and Ngilu was demonstrating how to use condoms the men were drinking and carousing. Then they would go home if not today or tomorrow, the day after. In order not to make their wives suspicious they would insist on having sex with them: to show them how caring they were.

The young men would leave their girl-friends with endearments having literally raped some of them while under the influence and now whispering to the teary eyed-girls 'it will be okay. It shows how much I love you!' The following weekend this tragic deception would be repeated with another girl.

Stopping HIV/AIDS in its tracks is very simple and the answer is contained in two words. Behavior change. For a sober fellow will think twice about casual sex. But after two beers he looks at the woman twice. After five beers he sends a beer to her table. Then they will go for 'short-time.'

Business will continue to thrive on Koinange Street, as little girls to teenagers, to young women to old women are all available for a song.

And everybody knows after a few beers or other alcohol "yote yawezekana" (anything is possible).

President Kibaki has resolutely with great resolve and determination refused to tackle the problems of alcohol manufacture, sale and consumption in this country. And so ingrained is the culture of sycophancy in African politics with Kenya being no exception, that where the President does not walk, no one dares to tread.

So Hon. Ngilu will continue to concentrate on her condom demonstrations, while Hon. Moody Awori, to whose Home Affairs docket the National Agency for the Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) was quietly transferred from the Office of the President (OP) soon after Kibaki was sworn in, will continue to make prisons more humane.

The First Lady will criss-cross the length and breath of Kenya, leading more runs and raising more funds and awareness.

From Ngilu women will learn about condoms, from Moody Awori alcoholics and other addicts will be able to watch television when they are jailed instead of being taken to drug rehabilitation centers, which were supposed to be set up by Ministry of Health since independence but no Health Minister has ever looked into and from First Lady Lucy Kibaki, women will become extremely fit.

But in the bars, men (and women) will continue to drink and have sex and infect themselves lavishly with the HIV. All the while President will continue stating that with Gods help and their determination the war against HIV/AIDS would be won.

But if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. For as long as we continue "my will be done" which means the debauchery continues and not "Thy will be done," which would allow us to change our behavior by also following God's will, there is no real hope in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

As long as President Kibaki leads the nation in denial of the alcoholism and runaway alcohol consumption by the young and old alike we will not make much headway. For HIV/AIDS and alcohol are like a fellow and his ka-supu. They complement each other in what you might call a 'fatal attraction!'

Mr. President as I have previously asked you in this and other similar forums, grab the bull by the horns and do what must be done for anything less is merely delusion.

P.S. Mr Uhuru Kenyatta are you listening? As leader of the opposition, this might be just the platform you have been looking for if the ruling NARC coalition seems slow off the mark. Kenyans are suffering and will be grateful to whoever can throw down the gauntlet and take on alcohol and other drugs. Do not forget "yote yawezekana!"

David Ogot is a freelance journalist/producer who has personal experience with alcoholism. He can be reached at: goinghomedotcom@yahoo.com Website: www.goinghomekenya.org

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