When is this whole thing coming to end? Shall we survive to tell the tale? Is the world coming to an end? These are some of the questions people are asking, anxiety written all over them.
As we continue to grapple with the deadly Covid-19 disease, the closer we get to a potentially most intense phase of the pandemic, mistakes are beginning to be made. That concerns sharing of information and the perception created in the mind of the public.
Until this point, Uganda has performed very well against the disease on account of excellent guidance from the top leadership, commitment of medical teams, enforcement of regulations by security teams and compliance by the general public with the safety directives and guidelines issued in respect of observing standard operating procedures, quarantine, curfew and all the hitherto “strange” terminology that has all of a sudden become regular jargon. It is a strong and effective wall!
Nobody knows how many other walls have to be built and how many bridges have to be crossed before we see the last of Covid-19. We only have ourselves as Ugandans to keep our defences strong.
Disturbingly, the oneness of purpose and voice is beginning to get torn. There is a worrying trend of officials, whose names I won’t mention, are sending mixed signals and making statements that risk confusing the public and causing mass defiance of the S.O.Ps and other redeeming measures. We are in a delicate situation where any wrong utterance may set off catastrophic results.
Officials are speaking in wrong forums where in they make sensitive statements that contradict official positions carried over from President Museveni’s various addresses to the nation and the delicately configured social set up. Some of the officials speak out of excitement while others are populist, trying to capitalise on Covid-19 for electoral purposes. They make it look as if there are two or more governments in Uganda whereas there is only one, and fully in charge. How can anyone say that there is no Covid-19 or that it is okay to mill in large crowds because some people elsewhere have been spotted recklessly converged in small spaces with no social distancing-and no infection was reported among them? That is not how things work. Who knows what happens next-since it is not possible to test everybody?
People are still dying in huge numbers in other countries to an extent that lockdown has been reactivated where it had been eased. Countries like Lebanon, South Korea, Iran, Germany and South Africa, have had to review their lifting of measures after a spike in cases. This means that as soon as you start to open up and connections start to come back, it’s very likely for the virus to spread faster. Humans are the main vehicle carrying the virus and when a chain is woven by close interaction, the virus flourishes. Moreover, Ugandans are good at social networking, meaning that they are accustomed to maintaining very close-knit social ties unlike in most Asian and European countries where society is quite segmented. As soon you relax the terms of interaction, they will be at each other’s chin and the virus will have a field day.
Nevertheless, people want houses of worship reopened, arcades reopened, schools and institutions of learning reopened (so that teachers and non-teaching staff resume their jobs and learners progress academically); operators of salons want them reopened, boda boda riders want to be back fully on the road (to carry passengers); stakeholders in upcoming elections want campaigns conducted the traditional way of rallies and gatherings; virtually everybody wants the leadership to act as if everything is okay and let people be. All that is understandable and anyone can make promises to the effect but reality is that it is too much to promise at this time that life can be restored to normalcy in a sweep.
“Public demand” does not apply in this case since it is not a popularity contest but a matter of survival or perishing by natural selection-which is a process by which species survive by adapting to new circumstances or environmental changes.
The plight of Ugandans bothers the leadership so much but the decision to clear the way is not in anybody’s hands, for now, and neither is there a deliberate ploy to keep anyone caged. Let’s not despair and go into denial mode! This position needs to be carefully articulated and emphasised by officials charged with issuing public statements but taking directly from the president’s guidance and avoiding sending divergent messages to the public. Some officials are under investigation for misleading the public about why lockdown is in place and why certain activities are a no-go area until such a time that the medical community advises on an “all clear” and the president will gladly declare the ordeal over and life will return to normal.
For now, the official position on Covid-19 preventive measures and accompanying “highly regrettable inconveniences” as spelt out by the president in his most recent address on June 22 still stands.
If anybody, passing himself or herself off as an authority on these matters, misleads anyone to act haphazardly, President Museveni should not be blamed for the consequences of any rushed decision.
Officials should further act responsibly in respect of lockdown measures to avoid sowing a deadly seed of mass defiance.
The author is a Presidential Assistant in Charge of Media Management
Contact: kirundaf2@gmail.com
0776980486/0702980486
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