Citizen’s Perceptions and Government Policy Responses to COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa

In a report released by the Centre for Multilateral Affairs this week entitled “Citizens Perceptions and Government Policy Responses to COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa”, citizens from several countries have expressed mixed opinion in the way their respective governments have acted to address the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Africa. The general aim of the research undertaking – a quick scan administered via social media and targeting different nationalities were to gain an understanding on what citizens perceive of the measures instituted by their governments. The survey was responded to by 11 countries. Out of these countries, 10 were from Africa. The research undertaking was hinged on the general postulate that a strong policy measure that integrates social distancing, partial or total lockdown is likely to lead to lower spread and risk of infections as compared to where policy measures are not strong enough and not fully effected.

Findings generated by data collected from Uganda Tanzania and Zimbabwe were very meaningful and quite striking. For instance, Uganda implemented quite a robust social distancing measures and thus 100% of participants from Uganda were satisfied with the way government of Uganda generally handled the issue of the pandemic. When asked whether they support the social distancing measures instituted by their respective governments, 100% participants from Uganda constituting 71 participants to the survey were satisfied with social distancing measures. Meanwhile, Tanzania that did not implement social distancing measures and where currently life continues as normal except the closure of educational facilities also support the social distancing measures. It would appear Tanzanians would love to see their government implement strict social distancing measures as advised by the World Health Organization (WHO) and health experts to mitigate the current increase in the spread of the pandemic in the country.

Chart below shows nationality of respondents

Generally, female respondents from all the countries were satisfied with the way their governments have responded to address further spread of the pandemic including measures that enforced the social distancing as well as those aimed to improve the economy during and after the pandemic.

Chart showing sex of respondents

It is interesting to note that the youthful groups – largely 65 participants out of the total number of respondents did not support the economic measures instituted by their various governments. While the youthful groups between the age brackets (18-30) had 35 of the respondents saying they were satisfied with the economic measures, 43 of those in the age brackets (31-40) said they were not satisfied with the economic policy measures in their own country.

This particular finding is important because, the youth which constitutes majority of unemployed nationals in countries like Uganda, Kenya and Zimbabwe are not only concerned about the political leadership and governance architecture of their own nations but how such governance translates into economic well-being of themselves and every citizen. No wonder, the recommendations by participants to governments was to improve the economy as well as the health sector top priority list respectively. Therefore, the issue of economic performance is significant for youth and countries should deeply engage the youthful population in the way their economic destinies (of their polities) are determined just like they do with their political governance – by way of elections and or voting of their leaders

It is also very important to note that Tanzania for instance did not lock down apart from closing educational institutions and continue with business as usual. However, of late Tanzania has seen a surge in infection rates jumping up to over 299 with over 84 infections registered in a single day. This perhaps, also explains why all respondents from Tanzania were not satisfied with the social distancing measures instituted by the government of Tanzania. Important to note though from the results of the survey, is that Tanzanians in principle support the social distancing measures and would love their government to effect it even though, at the moment social distancing is not implemented in Tanzania. Other countries that were not supportive of the social distancing measures by their governments include Kenya, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

While it’s possible that the Tanzanian government implemented measures due to fear of jeopardizing the economy, the approach is likely to cause sever risks of infections and loss of lives in the country. The African Union protocol on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARs) illness and influenza-like illness surveillance for COVID-19 2020 advisory recommends that African governments should adopt measures with care so that they do not cause sever negative impact on the social wellbeing and economic progress with their delicate growing economies.

Its plausible to argue that, Tanzanian President, John Pombe Magufuli could have adhered to such policy advise or so to say. But to say that the President of Tanzania is playing politics as the country draws to close of general elections is even more disheartening to the ears of Tanzanian citizens. Pauline Kerr et all (2003) argues that the impacts of pandemics such as COVID-19 affects substantially the quality of people’s lives and their destinies which are and cannot be quantifiable  by national decision makers who unfortunately, prefer to securitize or exert control over crisis and contingencies by reshaping their parameters and approaches in line with their own preferred concepts or vision or the “national interest”[1].

Last but not least, several recommendations were given by participants to their respective governments. Generally, findings reveal that people are more concerned about their health (health sector) as well as the economy (economic situation) of their own country more than any other sector. In addition, countries that are seeing new surge in infections due to drivers from neighboring countries testing positive of the virus has been a huge concern to participants especially those from Uganda who have urged their governments to strictly handle and block drivers from such neighboring countries entering Uganda. Social distancing measures such as avoidance of mass gatherings example churches were a huge concern to participants from Tanzania.

[1] Pauline Kerr,William T. Tow & Marianne Hanson (2003) The utility of the human security agenda for policy‐makers, Asian Journal of Political Science, 11:2, 89-114, DOI: 10.1080/02185370308434229 000000000