Dear Sir/madam,

I must admit that last week I came across one of the most dramatic headlines arising out of a mounting inability by some scientists to cope with the HIV/AIDS scourge. We may be used to scientists coming up with a raft of measures to stem the rising tide of the HIV/AIDS scourge but that is nothing compared to what some inspired scientists came up with last week. They talked about couples (and even commercial sex workers and their faithful clients) boycotting from this uplifting experience for a month as a means of reducing new infections. Really!

Allow me to say with a lot of conviction that this latest strategy (if it qualifies to be called a strategy) will not work in Kenya. First and foremost, July and August are the coldest months here. They are the sorts of our winter. I guess that the possibility of a couple full of virility attempting to even think of such a boycott will be remotest. At this time, people have a craving for this natural warmth so much than food itself. This explains why Kenya has a baby boom nine months after this “winter.”

Secondly, many people in this third world country live below the poverty line. Anyone who has gone through this debilitating experience will tell you that poor folks resort to sex as the only means to overcome the pangs of hunger and a litany of other social problems albeit temporarily. If these scientists have been wondering why these poor chaps despite the excruciating poverty, still adorn permanent glees on their faces, they should wonder no more. Sex provides the much needed fissure through which the pent up frustrations can temporarily be let out by fellows whose spirits have been ruffled by poverty. It is sought of an anesthesia.

So anybody coming up with a mundane suggestion that promises to erase these glees from their faces runs the risk of being called insane. That is why my polygamous old man back in my rural village is fond of declaring to all and sundry that he may be materially poor but that he is very rich when it comes to counting the number of children he has!

But the joke of it all is in the implementation of the proposal for the simple reason that it is extremely difficult to monitor and evaluate its success. I bet its architects do not have the capacity to install CCTV cameras in every bedroom to check the proximity of couples in the comfort of their bedrooms.

That is why these folks are charging that these scientists have grossly misdirected their efforts, that instead of upping their efforts in searching for a cure of this disease, they advocate a month long abstinence which in their estimation is only effective to couples whose muscular strength and virility has worn down to a thread. In other words they do not see the reason why a soldier who still has a good stock of ammunition should retreat from this combat.

TOME FRANCIS,

BUMULA,

http://twitter.com/tomefrancis