Of leaders who fail to lead, by example

This week once again we were reminded of the throws of the Covid-19 pandemic and how it has rendered the country almost ungovernable. This happened when the Prime Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro appeared before the nation for an update on the Alert Level Red National Lockdown which has been in place since a fortnight ago.

The highlight of the Premiers update address, was extension of the lockdown right on the eve of what many were anticipating to be day-one of life post-the-lockdown, however, that was not to be as the Head of Government then burst the bubble.

In his brief, the Premier, indicated that the extension had been necessitated by the slight drop in positive cases by 11%.

He also stressed on the issue of behavioural change, which he said is necessary in order to not only protect self but others too. Funerals’ attendance was singled out as the one super spreader since thereat, people gather up in numbers and virtually go on about their business the way they would on a normal funeral day.

All that in spite of the fact that there are regulations governing how many people should be attendance of funerals.

Interestingly, it would appear that the powers-that-be somehow seem to think that maybe covid-19 will only hit a certain few maybe poor people. This is because members of the Cabinet are still going around attending funerals of people with whom they are not even in the least related to alongside throbs of mourners.

In the past week, Sports Minister was at a funeral together with scores other mourners, in spite of knowing fully well that only a few persons are expected at a funeral according to the health protocols. Yesterday, scores upon scores of very senior personnel gathered to bid farewell to the late first Lesotho Defense Force Commander Major General Metsing Lekhanya.

Not only were they gathered in their scores, but they also literally thronged the place without observance of the highly touted social distancing phenomenon. When the service was done, they went to the cemetery where scores of soldiers helped with filling up the holes with earth, these were more than the 10-men-at-the-grave made famous by NACOSEC.

Now a question crying for an answer literally is, does it mean that Lesotho has become some kind of Animal Farm where ‘some animals are more equal than others Because it is either the politicians somehow think that they are immune to Covid-19 or that they are above the very law. How then do they expect us to abide by the rules which they themselves cannot live by?

Truly we are living like a rudderless ship, we are all we have, because we do not have leaders whose conduct is sufficiently fit for the term, because true leaders lead by example.