Words that caught me: T is for 'Trust Deficit'
Imagine you've promised your child a bicycle,
If he/she performs well at school.
This is, indeed, a common promise
Among us parents.
Have you noticed how the little ones
Take these promises to heart?
We may say it in passing and forget.
But they never do…
Always reminding us,
With little mischievous winks.
Now imagine that, come the end of the academic
year,
The young one comes to you, proudly and
expectantly,
With an excellent performance.
Now imagine that you forgot all about the
promise,
Or lack the wherewithal to fulfil the promise
immediately.
What do you do?
Of course, as a good parent, you don’t want to
break a promise,
Or break the young one’s heart.
Most likely, you’ll cajole with some good reasoning,
And probably make another promise…
‘Next month’,…or ‘on your birthday…’
‘I won’t fail you this time. I promise!’
We don’t usually repeat this error,
But let’s just imagine that you forget a second
time,
What are the chances that the young one
Will take you seriously the next time?
Unfortunately, this seems to be what has
happened with COVID19.
I was up and about in the community this past
week,
And each time I met a neighbor I’d ask, ‘habari
za corona?’…
And any time I saw a neighbor not wearing a face
mask
I would ask them ‘huogopi corona?’
At first I thought their answers were born out
of
Ignorance or mis-information.
Then I began noticing a trend.
‘Hakuna Corona huku’, or ‘Corona gani?’ They all
said.
When I enquired further, most thought the rising
numbers,
Were the leadership’s gimmick, to rake in money
from donors.
And no. They were not ignorant.
Mis-informed, maybe. But, certainly, not
ignorant.
They knew the figures…of donations made and un-accounted
for.
They even gave me good, plausible reasons,
For disbelieving the government’s testing announcements.
How could this be, with all the warnings,
restrictions and curfews?
How is it that the community isn’t convinced
By the government’s messaging?
I could be wrong, but I suspect the reason is that
We suffer from a serious trust deficit.
Just like the young one won’t believe us the
third time,
It really doesn’t matter if the government
shouts murder,
Or promises heaven…
It’s words fall flat, on barren soil.
They don’t carry any weight or influence.
I recall that’s exactly what happened with the
daily government briefings.
Initially, we all lauded the briefings, and
hang on to every word,
And looked forward to them for the latest
update on the pandemic.
Then we started asking questions and doubting
the numbers.
Now, we rarely stand to listen to them, or care
which way they are trending.
They are now just numbers. Soul-less. Lacking in
weight and influence.
There is a photo doing the rounds on social
media
And presenting a clear gender advantage
That female leaders have led and governed better,
Than their male counterparts (tongue in cheek).
That may be true, at face level,
But I think the deeper meaning here is that,
They understand trust better –
What it is, and
how it works.
Everything social, be it family, business or governance,
Is rooted in trust, and moves or stalls at the
speed of trust.
The neighbors I talked to clearly don't trust
their leadership,
And the governance system they lead.
There have seen too many broken promises!
They would rather believe someone else. Even
fake news.
And that’s exactly what they are doing.
And everybody will be worse for it.
Do we see that trust is the basis for
Effective leadership and good governance?
Do we see that lack of trust is undermining
Our efforts in combating COVID19?
Do we appreciate why the citizenry seem
A little negligent and carefree, despite our loud
and vaunted warnings?
Will we continue victimizing and shouting at
them,
And calling them names,
Or will we look in the mirror and do something more
meaningful?
How do we bridge this yawning trust deficit
That COVID19 has exposed to us?
Where do we start?
*'Covid-stion' is a series of questions we will be posing in the next couple of weeks, inspired by our own reflection of 'lessons learnt' from COVID-19. The questions are meant to invite self-reflection.
Comments