Reflections  on Covid-19,  governance 

Since the beginning of NRM rule, I had never seen our nation uniting to confront a common national challenge. Strangely, Covid-19 pandemic nearly did it. The pandemic has killed nearly five million people across the world. 

Yet for the people of Uganda, in spite of registering about 126,000 infections, 3,200 deaths and nearly 97,000 recoveries, Covid-19 offered us the rare opportunity to showcase what we can do together as one united Ugandan family.
 
We forged unity, marshalled courage and summoned the patriotism required to control the substantial spread of the virus. 
It may be too early to celebrate victory over the scourge, precisely because, if we become complacent and fail to vaccinate and adhere to the SOPs, we could easily relapse into a worse situation. 

However, Uganda peoples’ relative success so far, in controlling the massive spread of the virus, has unequivocally illustrated how much we care for one another. It has also demonstrated that there is nothing under the sun that a united people cannot overcome or achieve. 

Our relative success against the virus shows that divisive politics has no place in our body politic. It may be pushed through our throat as the NRM has done for the last 36 years but as the Bible says (Eccles. 3:1-8), there is time for everything. 

The NRM season has been for divisive politics. But that season will end. A new season will dawn. The new season will not condone politicians who employ subterfuge, obscurantism and manipulation to achieve selfish objectives at the expense of the common good of all.

Covid-19, undoubtedly, tells a different story about Uganda. The story of a country that could easily be transformed into a modern and prosperous nation; but a nation whose rulers have and continue to plunge it deeper into the abyss of undemocratic rule and underdevelopment. 

Essentially this means, when the country cuts its umbilical cord with the current rulers and gets new leaders who can forge a new consensus for democratic governance, nation building and inclusive development, Uganda will be unstoppable.

Covid-19 has given us hope in our nationhood. The idea that as a nation, we can and should always rise above our diversity to confront our common challenges as a people bound together by destiny. Covid-19 has revealed Uganda peoples’ resiliency, fortitude and hopefulness in the face of monumental challenges. 

We now know that no ruler (mere mortals) or tragedy can break our spirit as a nation. Not the current rulers, not mudslides, not Ebola, not even the dreaded coronaviruses.
It is self-evident that the African leadership philosophy of Ubuntu is alive in us. 

The notion that “I am because we are, we are because I am.” Africans believe strongly in the idea that we are one another’s keeper and that none of us can be happy and prosperous when our fellow kith and kin wallow in poverty and misery. 
The numerous donations that the people of Uganda made to cushion fellow countrymen and women from the effects of the scourge said the story very eloquently.

It is now vividly clear that it is our rulers’ actions or lack thereof, that have continued to betray our collective hope in a nation that has all the resources needed for building a united, democratic and prosperous nation; where all Ugandans would live a happy and dignified life. 

Let it be known, thus, that when we unite as a people to pursue a common objective, it will be accomplished. Nothing can be beyond the reach of a united people. May we soar as a nation! 

The writer is a politician, trainer and writer
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