When you decide to run for public office, included in that package is the understanding that you make yourself a public servant not public lord, and therefore you become subject to the people. Public servants are at the beck and call of the people they serve.
Now African leaders at all levels need to hear this and hear it very clearly. I don’t care whether you are called President or High Chief ( I didn’t know we had low chiefs before), you are a servant….servants run errands and when they steal they are beaten up right? We need to beat up lots of people, by the way.
Last night I watched a trending video from Enugu State and I could relate with those poor local women lamenting about the closure of Akpata market and how they now have no other options than to hawk along the road at Mgbemena. They were begging the government to reopen the market so that these women, some of whom sustained injuries while being chased out of the market, could find something to eat.
I understand that the government wants to contain the spread of corona virus but there is no contingency plan in place to contain corona hunger. Would you rather die of corona virus or corona hunger? I believe these people understand the risk but have no options especially in a situation where government has no plan to help or alleviate the sufferings of the people in any way.
Today I decided to call out the governor and the government of Enugu State. I don’t know what you have done or is doing to mitigate corona hunger. I was trying to see if there are any trending videos of any response from the government to the effect of what they intend to do in the market situation. Social distancing is good but hunger does not understand turenchi.
By extension, it will be good to know what other governors are doing and how different communities are addressing hunger during this season of corona lockdown. We don’t want corona virus but we don’t want to die of corona hunger. Please share your experiences, both the good, the bad and the ugly so we can all learn, maybe some of our government officials will emulate good practice and adopt same. Your thoughts?
Mezie is a leadership analyst at www.mezieokolo.com 04/16/2020