Pumwani Hospital Incident Exposed the Cruelty of Secular Capitalist Ideology
On Saturday, 19 September 2020 a worrying video circulated on social media. In the video there was a pregnant woman in distress due to labor pain. Dishearteningly she was on the road just outside the gate of Pumwani Hospital, Nairobi County. The guard manning the gate had denied her entry as medics were on strike! Consequently, she was assisted to give birth to a baby girl by some onlookers who were on the road (The Star, 19/09/2020). The despicable event confirmed the following:
First, the incidence is not the first nor the last to occur in Kenya. The exact date of the above incidence was confirmed to be on Sunday, 13 September 2020 (Nairobi Metropolitan Services, 19/09/2020). In addition, on Monday, 16 September 2019 Mary Otieno delivered outside Dandora Health Centre, Nairobi County. Mary was denied entry into the facility since she did not have Sh20 for registration! Likewise, on August, 2019 a woman gave birth on the floor of Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, Nairobi County (The Standard, 06/08/2019). Also on April 2019, a woman gave birth at the reception of Shalom Community Hospital, Athi River while the nurses were taking tea! (standardmedia.co.ke, 22/04/2019).
Second, the above incidences expose a systemic failure by the so called governance system of democracy in taking care of peoples’ lives especially our women. The system emanates from the invalid secular capitalist ideology that gives man legislative powers contrary to the dictates of Allah (swt) the Creator and Organizer of the universe, man and life. Its criterion on measuring peoples’ actions is based purely on benefits and interests. Therefore, those adopting the secular capitalist ideology and its poisonous systems as guidance suffer from unkindness, individualism and perpetual conflicts for materialism!
Third, the so called rulers or leaders are just busy looting public coffers to meet their personal and Western masters’ interests and benefits. On the other hand, citizens are left to languish in underfunded health institutions even the meager allocations are turned to ghost projects where billions are embezzled in scandals such as the Afya House scandal related to the mobile clinics where it is reported that Sh5.2 billion was lost (The Star, 05/10/2017). In addition, recently the health funds allocated to fight Covid-19 were reported to be plundered while citizens’ lives continue to be shuttered due to severity of the pandemic that permeated the socio-economic spheres.
These occurrences are the fruits of the inherent failure in the secular capitalist ideology that Kenya is founded upon. Kenya is a secular capitalist state and a colonial farm that blindly adopts its Western master’s ideology and so its policies are drawn either directly or indirectly by her master. So, despite Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi being the economic hub of East and Central Africa still cannot meet both the basic and social needs of her citizens. However, the elites are currently busy traversing the nation seeking to either ascend or remain in power by exploiting the problems facing the citizens whose source is from the said small group and their implementation of the invalid secular capitalist and its filthy systems.
Now is the time to start pondering about the solution to the perennial demeaning of our mothers, daughters, sisters etc. The dignity and respect that our women deserve cannot be gotten from an evil secular capitalist ideology that has objectified their sexuality for temporary sensual satisfaction! Furthermore, their motherhood is being fought by the so called feminists that allege motherhood as a burden to economic prosperity and a barrier to ascending the socio-economic ladder! Instead our women will only find peace, security, tranquility, dignity and respect under a just system that emanates from Allah (swt) the Creator and Organizer of the universe, man and life. In other words, the system emanates from the Islamic Shari’ah (Qur’an, Sunnah, Ijma’ Sahaba and Qiyas). The system is none other than the Khilafah (Caliphate) system founded upon the method of Prophethood. The Khilafah system adopts the primary role of a woman as that of a wife, mother and homemaker. A system that values motherhood such that the Prophet (saw) said: « الْجَنَّةَ تَحْتَ رِجْلَيْهَا» “Paradise is beneath her (mother’s) feet” (Nasai).
The Khilafah system is presided over by a male Muslim leader, the Khalifah (Caliph) who the Prophet (saw) said about him: فَالإِمَامُ رَاعٍ، وَهْوَ مَسْئُولٌ عَنْ رَعِيَّتِهِ “The Imam (Caliph) is a guardian of his subjects and responsible for them” (Bukhari and Muslim). The Khalifah will strive to provide opportunities to his subjects to enable them meet their basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter and social needs such as security, health and education. Since the Prophet (saw) said: لَيْسَ لاِبْنِ آدَمَ حَقٌّ فِي سِوَى هَذِهِ الْخِصَالِ بَيْتٌ يَسْكُنُهُ وَثَوْبٌ يُوَارِي عَوْرَتَهُ وَجِلْفُ الْخُبْزِ وَالْمَاءِ “There is no right for the son of Adam in other than these things: A house which he lives in, a garment which covers his nakedness, and Jilf (a piece of bread) and water” [Tirmidhi]. In addition, the Prophet (saw) said: مَنْ أَصْبَحَ مِنْكُمْ آمِنًا فِي سِرْبِهِ مُعَافًى فِي جَسَدِهِ عِنْدَهُ قُوتُ يَوْمِهِ فَكَأَنَّمَا حِيزَتْ لَهُ الدُّنْيَا “Whoever among you wakes up in the morning secured in his dwelling, healthy in his body, having his food for the day, then it is as if the world has been gathered for him” [Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah]. Therefore, the Khilafah system will strive to put measures and policies that ensure its citizens are served well and timely when in need. Certainly, those calling for artificial change in Kenya are nothing but political actors working to retain the status-quo. Let us join and work together to #ReturnThe Khilafah, the true change across the world.
Ali Nassoro Ali
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir