AMECEA: Fight Against Covid-19 Requires A Holistic Approach
Fr Paul Igweta Mung’athia, AMECEA Integral Human Development Coordinator
By Fr Paul Igweta Mung’athia, AMECEA Integral Human Development Coordinator
With Covid-19 bringing economic activity to halt across most nations in eastern Africa, nations are already anticipating a devastating socio-economic impact of the pandemic while, according to Africa’s Pulse publication, economists envisage the pandemic driving the sub-Sahara region into an economic recession.
Going by what many epidemiologists are saying, Africa is yet to reach its peak. This is so because the speed at which countries are doing the testing for Coronavirus is rather slow while most of the people still assume the disease will not affect them. In the process, it is evident that countries are struggling to strike a balance between protecting peoples’ lives and ensuring that their their economic life continues to thrive. Failure to do so has ended up in some governments being accused of violating their people’s human rights as enshrined in their Constitutions.
Standing in between fundamental rights
The case of Malawi has been particularly interesting. When government announced that there would be a total lockdown for twenty-one days commencing midnight on April 18, people in small scale businesses went to the streets to demonstrate their anger to the extent that the human rights organization, HRDC, decided to challenge the decision in court. To the dismay of government, the high court blocked government plans with a seven-day injunction, on grounds that while a lockdown would slow the spread of the Coronavirus, it would have devastating socio-economic impact on the people who will lose their income.
In other words, in spite of the health risk the Coronavirus is pausing, most of the people in these countries cannot afford to stay at home as their financial survival is hand to mouth, hence the need for to strike a balance between the two rights issues – right to good health and to food.
Responding to AMECEA Online on this development, Mr Boniface Chibwana, Coordinator of the Episcopal Conference of Malawi (ECM) Justice and Peace Commission said, “Indeed, there were widespread demonstrations against the lockdown. The main issue is that government effected lockdown without considering the views of many stakeholders. Lockdown is good but government must put in place measures that seek to protect the lives of the people taking into account the fundamental human rights.”
Further Chibwana said, “Many people in the country who live in slums practice informal economy. Therefore, the local down would affect them economically, thereby affecting their right to food. Stakeholders such as political parties, faith leaders, chiefs and representatives of the small scale businessmen were supposed to be consulted to make their input to the decision making process, more especially on such a serious matter.”
Modelling power and human rights
Apart from the Covid-19 pandemic as a human rights issues, several other rights issues have emerged across the region including domestic violence, hate claims against a particular race or nationality and the general economic survival and livelihood concern. More importantly, it has become not easy for policy makers to strike a balance between two fundamental rights – the right to health and to food security.
As the World Bank Vice President for Africa, Mr Hafez Ghanem put it, where should our policy makers put their primary focus? Should it be on strengthening the health systems to prevent people from Covid-19 related deaths, or on minimizing the disruption of their economic life so as to prevent them from dying of hunger? (The World Bank Press Release, April 9, 2020).
The above-mentioned ensued a hot debate on social media legal professional regarding who is to blame if Coronavirus spreads to the slums and rural areas where it is likely to kill thousands of people. And Ralph Kasambara posted, “The right to govern by the politician ends at the gate of individual liberties. In this case, public health measures by governments must in the first place meet constitutional rule-making procedures and human rights standards.”
“Unchecked exercise of powers by public officials masquerading as exercise of emergency powers to protect lives may actually lead to a destruction of many more public lives… Needless to say that everyone needs to be brought aboard the ship that will take them to safe shores,” he continued.
What this means is that if policy makers are putting in place preventative public health measures without looking at the livelihood issue, they have nobody to blame but themselves when both the health and socio-economic effects hit hard on their countries.
I fact, this argument highlights what Pope Francis said, “Politics is a high form of charity. Let us pray for the political parties of various countries so that, in this moment of pandemic, they may seek together the good of the country and not the good of their own political party” (April 19, 2020)
Heroic stories that give hope
Our countries are plunging deep into the pandemic whose future cannot be determined until today, there is clear message which must reach the people in the communities: that everyone is forced to make life style adjustments. Already in countries where lockdown is effected such as in Uganda and South Africa and to a certain extent even in Kenya, there are many household that are going without food. However, as the pandemic continues to impact our communities for as long as the pandemic stays, there are signs of hope as people are coming together and living their differences aside, to help one another.
On this note, the statement below which is taken from one of the United Nations (UN) online publications captures the mind.
“Although a sense of undetermined future has made the world feel unsettled, we cannot lose hope in fighting the virus. It is also important to acknowledge and appreciate those taking the bold steps in ensuring, individually or as a community, that humanity does not leave us. We all need to strive to do our part.”
Hence they must be applauded the efforts of all political and church leaders who are putting down tangible measures to protect their people either from contracting the virus by having mask and sanitizers, or from dying of Covid-19 by building the capacity of their health centres. It is not encouraging to hear about deaths as as a result of Covid-19 but about people being cured. It does not give hope when, as a result of lockdowns and imposed curfews, the law enforcers use brutality against the civilians living in, and when corrupt officers act as such with impunity. Otherwise, law enforcers will become even deadlier than the Coronavirus itself when the civilians opt for civil disobedience.
They must also be applauded those in the frontline of the fight such as the medical staff and volunteers who, despite the limited resources our government and church health institutions have, and the risk involved, they are trying their best to find ways of taking care of the patients in order to serve their lives. These are heroic acts that, in Christian terms, would produce saints of the 21st century.
A strong approval must go rights activists, scientists, university students and social workers who are taking different initiatives to support their communities during these difficult times. Here, we can even consider the tailors who are sewing locally made facemasks to protect the poor and the most vulnerable from contracting the Coronavirus.
Pastoral workers who are going out of their traditional ways of reaching out to their Christians in order to support government initiatives to prevent the spread of the disease, they too must be acknowledged. During these unprecedented times, some clergy and Religious (men and women) have taken a lead in the fight by emphasising physical distancing, washing of hands, sanitizing of hands, keeping a metre distance. Yes, some have found themselves in trouble with law enforcers and/ or conservative minded faithful for one reason or another, but in general they are collaborating with governments and Church authorities.
As the Cabinet Minister for Health in Kenya recently said, this fight against the disease is not about the government but citizens’ safety. When the Church is equally seen to be responsive, even those who feel the pain of government directives will begin to appreciate the fact that these are hard times for everybody. This means that the pastoral workers have a responsibility to act as referees. On one hand, they must pass on concerns of their people government but on the other hand, awareness messages to their people.
The Church has a role to play in overcoming systemic biases that overlook the rights and needs of the vulnerable members of our societies, more especially during this pandemic the elderly, children women and girls, not forgetting those living in institutions such as nursing homes, orphanages, prisons and refugee camps. They too must be an integral part of the national systems and plans for tackling the virus.
Standing together as a family
When fear and uncertainty kick in, scapegoats are never far away. In AMECEA region, we have already witnessed some incidents of anger and hostility directed against a nationality or race. If left unchecked, the urge to blame and exclude others may extend to other African tribes, minorities, and the marginalized. Yet the coronavirus does not discriminate.
If the Church in Africa must prophetically live up to its image as family of God, her response to Coronavirus must be grounded on principles of respect for human life and solidarity with preferential option for the most vulnerable, and without discrimination. In this way, she will not only uphold the intrinsic rights of each and every human being but also ensure that Christians have a certain sense of ‘ubuntu’ even when the going gets tough.
