For curfew,  one Afande needs to ask why?

This is the story, as told by a priest. At this military barracks, several soldiers had suffered injuries or gotten maimed, after falling into an open manhole. Persistent calls to have it covered had gone unheeded.

The commanding officer decided to station a soldier at the manhole, to warn whoever wandered into the general area. This deployment, just like the other strategic defence deployments around the barracks, went on for so long, because in some places, there is no incentive to solve a small problem. You wait for it to incapacitate some routine processes before you can act.

One day, after part of the road had been eaten away, funds for repairs were finally allocated and work kicked off. Just as the repairs were completed, headquarters announced a redeployment, moving the commanding officer to another region. When the new guy showed up, he looked at the strategic defence deployment map and it didn’t quite add up why there was a soldier deployed on a paved road, in the middle of the barracks. 

He could have sought clarity, asked a few questions maybe, but he didn’t. He simply went along with it, because that’s what had always been. It took several changes of command for someone to finally ask ‘Why?’  Listen to the absurd story about an open manhole, and rescind the needless deployment.

I don’t quite remember what the priest intended for the moral of the story to be, and my limited Bible knowledge makes it unwise to make any suppositions here. 
However, I can think of so many themes – as we called them back in Literature in English class – to be gleaned from that story. 

There is one on dealing with problems as soon as they arise, and not letting them spill over – because that comes at a bigger cost; there’s another on asking questions about why we do the things we do – and not simply following tradition or orders even if they don’t make sense; and another on taking action when we realise that something doesn’t make sense anymore, rather than carrying on obstinately.

This week, Uganda’s Health ministry announced that the first batch of the Covid-19  pandemic vaccine is on the way. This news should be such relief to all, especially families, including my own, which have lost loved ones to coronavirus; and those with high-risk family members. 

The numbers on actual spread have since thinned – because that is what happens when you do not test . So there is no telling how grave the problem is. So has the vigilance and general caution – because that is what happens when people receive mixed signals.

There was a time when we had popular public participation, which the politicians undid when they went all out to secure the future for a new Uganda. 

The public then realised that there was no point going on anymore, and went back to burials and weddings as always was, markets taxi parks reopened, then churches and house parties joined in. Now we have added schools to that mix; and daytime enjoyments at eateries that double as bars. 

In almost all these places, masks were – and still continue to be – worn as a passing suggestion and not as a lifesaving measure. Once in a while, overzealous and evidently unreasonable enforcement personnel will arrest poor souls in ‘downtown’ Kampala for not wearing masks, as if the virus is only confined to the city centre.

It seems that whereas, in principle, we agree that the virus is lethal, we have also decided to leave care to-whom-it-may-concern. Which brings us to the charade that is this indefinitely imposed nighttime curfew. Let’s circle back to the priest’s story, and have the commanding officer ask, “Why?….Why are we still making these deployments?” 

Here is what he might find: First, that there is no scientific evidence that the virus only spreads at night; but that in fact, all these daytime activities that have been permitted are a much bigger problem. 

He would decide that those deployments are illogical in the circumstances and do not serve any purpose – any more – beyond inconveniencing life and business. Then, he probably would lift the curfew. 

But asking ‘Why?’ might also have him admitting that perhaps, it is an effective way for government to show they are in charge; and that after a difficult year, even law enforcers need side incomes to survive, and extorting people at night is the perfect gig. 
Then, he probably would keep the curfew.

Mr Rukwengye is the founder, Boundless Minds. [email protected]