No other subject has captured the world’s attention today than Covid-19. For more than three months, it has been the dominant news item across the world. It has been discussed, analysed, and commenting on more than anything else in modern history. And so it should because it represents such a widespread, indiscriminate threat to human existence. That’s why scientists are scrambling to get a cure or a vaccine for it as quickly as possible. World leaders are preoccupied by it and are in a race of their own. Most rightly see Covid-19 as great health hazard nationally and globally and are intensifying efforts to check its further spread. Some seem more concerned with how it affects their poll numbers. Others find in it a way to reinvent themselves and to tighten their stranglehold on national life. In the last few days, Covid-19 has become a weapon in the rivalry for global dominance. If the current situation goes on much longer, we might lose sight of it as a health threat of grave dimensions and could see the tussle for global supremacy that that has been going on rather silently for years blow into confrontation even greater than the cold war. Luckily in Rwanda, our government is still focussed on containing Covid-19, saving lives and eliminating it altogether. It is also working hard to mitigate its impact on the population and the economy. At the same time our leaders are in close collaboration with other leaders globally on how to deal with the pandemic. So far, the government has done an excellent job. Significantly, it has led the campaign. It has not been personalised by the president like it has been in some countries where they are the face and owner of the fight. Citizens too have played their part. They have kept to the guidelines and showed tremendous discipline in the face of daunting challenges. Of course, there have been a few cases of non-compliance; that’s to be expected in any human society. As we have said before, such discipline and adherence to official guidelines is part of Rwandans’ character and the result of trust in their government. But as the government and citizens remain focussed on the immediate task of keeping the population safe, they must also think about the post-Covid-19 period. We are not getting ahead of ourselves. The pandemic will certainly end at some point. Our planners and policymakers cannot afford to wait for it to end first before thinking about what will be done after that happens. They will certainly be grappling with the big task of getting the economy going again and with similar big issues. But thinking about some of the basic ones will not hurt anyone. They could, for instance, start with the lessons we have learnt, both as individuals and as a country, from being shut off from the rest of the world for whatever length of time it will have been by the time it ends. This period will have revealed a number of things and also raised some questions. For example, did it reveal sectors where we are most vulnerable in circumstances of a similar nature and that therefore require special attention? And if so, is it in our means to do this? It may also have exposed weaknesses in our trade and international relations that must be addressed. On the positive side, has it shown areas where we have some advantages and that then need reinforcing? Again, there might be things we have been doing because that’s how it has always been, but that we now realise can be done differently or done away with altogether. Things and practices that have always been taken for granted can be re-evaluated. This period will most likely have shown gaps that have to be plugged and probably lead to the discovery of others. We might also have realised that certain things we always thought were essential were merely extras or even excesses and did not add much to the quality of our existence. We could learn another word and habit: trimming. This will not be the first time that Rwandans have faced and learnt from adversity. Most recently problems with Uganda have opened the eyes of business people and citizens in general to alternative possibilities. At an earlier and more difficult time, at the end of the liberation war and the genocide against the Tutsi, when the state was completely broken and the international community hostile, we found it within ourselves to rebuild the country and bring it to the level it is at today. From these past experiences, Rwandans have drawn this important lesson that has become part of the established way of doing things: unusual times demand extra-ordinary response and abnormal challenges require unconventional solutions. In all these instances, including Covid-19, Rwanda’s response has been swift, bold and decis.ive to the Covid-19 outbreak was swift, the strategy after the threat is gone must be the same. The views expressed in this article are of the author.
