You cannot lead people with threats
What you need to know:
- No sane Kenyan would wilfully expose themselves to a virus if they had a choice, but when safe masks are unaffordable what is expected?
- The kind of leadership that allows systemic failures to become the responsibilities of its vulnerable citizens is where Kenya continually goes wrong.
Kenya has a long list of occasions where leadership used threats to impose inadequately thought directives upon its people.
In April 2019 it was reported that Communications Authority of Kenya threatened to block all SIM cards of Kenyans who would not have acquired Huduma Namba once the exercise was completed.
Additionally, it was made very clear that those without Huduma Namba would not be able to access public services.
Instead of engaging Kenyans in a participatory dialogue, the government imposed itself and threatened anyone who dared to seek a deeper understanding of its directive.
On April 6, 2020, a gazette notice issued by the Office of the Attorney General stated that failure to wear face masks in public as a safety precaution to curb the spread of coronavirus would attract a stiff fine of Sh20,000 or imprisonment of six months, or both.
The police were then directed to arrest anyone found in public without a face mask.
Putting on a mask to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Kenya is now compulsory, which we all agree with. However, what isn’t agreeable are the unnecessary threats when masks are unaffordable.
ABUSE OF POWER
Just like Huduma number, where stiff consequences were threatened without clarification on data protection measures or addressing the creation of a new bureaucratic level in service access, the issuance of a mandatory face mask measure is bound to open up Kenyans to dehumanisation by the police.
This directive makes it easy for police officers to harass, brutalise and exploit Kenyans as we’ve witnessed numerous times before, when police abuse their power and claimed they were implementing a directive.
No sane Kenyan would wilfully expose themselves to a virus if they had a choice, but when safe masks are unaffordable what is expected?
Are those giving out directives aware of the realities of the majority of Kenyans? Do they even care enough to see the link between the economic effects of Covid-19 and unaffordability of masks in homes where affording food is already a challenge?
OFFER SUPPORT
I wonder if these haphazard threats are actually making an already difficult situation any better?
Solutions can no longer be a blanket in a country of divergent realities and contexts; in fact, every county should be working towards the provision of free face masks for their people.
The kind of leadership that allows systemic failures to become the responsibilities of its vulnerable citizens is where Kenya continually goes wrong.
The people want to do the right thing. Instead of threatening them, the government should offer support. In order to do this, the provision of free masks by county governments should henceforth be made mandatory.
Scheaffer Okore is a policy analyst; [email protected]
