Now don’t laugh, it’s a serious subject, Kenya has run out of condoms. The country needs 20 million a month just to keep going, if you’ll excuse the expression, and even more during the holidays.

The problem, apparently, is that Kenya’s population is growing too fast combined with the fact that a larger percentage of people are now prepared to use condoms, so demand has outstripped supply.

Fear not, however, the United Nations has leapt into action and emergency relief supplies of 73 million prophylactics are even now on their way courtesy of the UN’s Population Fund for Africa (UNPFA). The first 38 million are due to arrive in Mombasa on April 8th, the balance of 35 million due a short while later. A further 16 million are expected from the US following a government appeal for help and another 29 million are to be shipped by the end of August.

It was Public Health and Sanitation Minister Beth Mugo who appealed to the US to provide the emergency supplies after admitting that the government had got its forecasts wrong regarding how many condoms Kenyans would be using. Well at least Ms Mugo admitted an error, it’s not often one witnesses a politician doing that.

Minister Mugo has also been in the news however, for other reasons. Recently, at a press conference, she railed against Prime Minister Odinga and the ICC. PM Odinga, she said, was “betraying his country and playing to the gallery of foreign powers”.

As for the ICC it was a “kangaroo political court, established by Western countries for Africans”, charged Mugo and, “the same foreigners who came and did a mistrial on Kenyatta’s case are the same ones at The Hague”. (Hell, they must be getting on a bit. It’s doesn’t seem likely to The Forum, Ms Mugo.) She concluded, “They [the foreigners] are not trustworthy and they cannot deliver justice”.

Perhaps not Ms Mugo but obviously they can deliver condoms when we need them and in three years and three months since the last elections Kenya’s politicians, police forces and judiciary have failed to even look like bringing those responsible for the post-election violence to justice. Worth giving the “foreigners” a chance don’t you think Beth?