Hypocrisy Is

Eating your cake and having it too. Perhaps hypocrisy is wilful stupidity and blindness. Or, perhaps, hypocrisy abounds in a dearth of accountability; when not a single soul can hold you to the promises you made and the words you said. Sometimes, they do not wish to. I raise these, ultimately, similar interpretations of hypocrisy to respond to the ongoing crisis of teen pregnancies in Kenya. 

Recent data suggests that nearly 1 out of every 5 girls in Kenya, between the ages of 15-19, is pregnant. According to UNESCO, "the rate increases rapidly with age from 3% among girls aged 15, to 40% among girls aged 19." The COVID-19 pandemic, and its impact on economic livelihood, social stability and educational outcomes, merely exacerbated this crisis. As people stayed home to keep themselves safe from COVID, many sacrificed access to sexual and reproductive health services (SRHS). These services go beyond the provision of contraceptive services and, directly worsened access to HIV/AIDS medication, sanitary pads and knowledge on menstrual health, and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and infections. As a result of this reduced access to SRHS, teenage pregnancies, as well as instances of STDs and STIs, skyrocketed.  The first lockdown in early to mid-2020 resulted in 152,000 teenage pregnancies – a 40% increase – as of July 2020. In Machakos County alone, 3964 girls under 19 were impregnated. While Nairobi recorded nearly 12,000 teenage pregnancies. These were the ironic consequences of the temporary stay-at-home orders - they paved the way for thousands of girls to remain at home. Now, nearly three years after the first outbreak of the pandemic, more and more teenage girls continue to get pregnant. And the government is left scratching its' head about what to do; even though the solution is quite obvious to my mind.

The first part of this solution is to not turn this dilemma into a moral panic. According to Stanley Cohen, a moral panic is “a condition, episode, person or group of persons emerges to [be declared] as a threat to societal values and interests.” Think Salem Witch Trials, which were precipitated by an extremely cold spell. Or Robert Mugabe's persecution of Zimbabwe's queer community in order to distract from Zimbabwe's socio-economic problems and Mugabe's poor governance. Within the legitimate, worry of teenage pregnancies - as a problem for the girls living through them - exist the seed of a moral panic. One that will implicate parents, but primarily mothers for their apparent failure to correctly, and morally, guide their children. It will also indict the teenagers themselves, holding them responsible for getting pregnant when the apportion of such responsibility is unfair. It is unfair because Kenya does not provide full access to reproductive health knowledge and services to teenagers, and yet the government is surprised by the rates of teenage pregnancies. Expanding access to these services is the second part of the solution.

The Reproductive Health Bill (2019) maintains, in Section 7(1) that "every person has the right to access reproductive health care services." Before qualifying that right in Section 32 of the Act. This section obliges National and County Governments to provide "adolescent-friendly" reproductive health services. Section 32(2) describes what "adolescent-friendly" services look like and it, noticeably, excludes providing access to and knowledge of contraceptive services. But, instead, focuses on mentorship programmes and counselling on unsafe abortions, drug abuse and abstinence. Even though, there is enough evidence that abstinence-only approaches to sex education DO NOT WORK. All you do delay the inevitable; making it more likely that when these teenagers decide to have sex, it will not be safe or consensual. And yet, the Kenyan government bowed to moral pressure, dismissing empirical evidence of failure in favour of the ontological. As a result, they have no right to complain, or act surprised at the problem their inaction has wrought; especially when they had the chance to do something about it. 

That for me, is hypocrisy.