Right from the Bible to man’s books of the law, it looks like people are all equal in the eyes of the law and subjected to the same legal requisites and life standards. That can and is very much true even in Lesotho, at least until reality downs.
In the country we all call home, set standards, especially where they involve legal limitations, only apply to the ordinary folk in the street and not to the ‘cream de la cream’ elites most of whom are actually involved in the making of the laws.
This notion has been a reality in a number of platforms in the public eye.
Firstly, since the eruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of control measures have been put in place some which include being forced to avoid crowded places, limitation of movement and wearing face masks all the time in public. These are but a fraction of a myriad of the-new-normal practices to co-exist with the pandemic. However, be that as it may, public figures have been seen going on about their life as if it were a normal day without covid-19. They were seen attending funerals of people whose names they could not even pronounce in the name of making show.
As if that was not enough, just at the back of the Prime Minister’s announcement of the ‘hard lockdown’ last month whence movement was strictly limited to that which was essential and inter alia greatly reduced numbers in public gathering such as funerals, a hoard of high-ranking government officials including the Deputy Prime Minister, gathered for the funeral of the late former army chief Major General Metsing Lekhanya in total disregard of covid-19 health protocols and requisites.
This week, similarly, when parliament reopened, the legislators themselves, actually told the Speaker of the National Assembly that they want to converge 100% in total disregard of the health protocols and legal requirements of the Covid-19 lockdown. That notwithstanding that no less than 10 of them have already fallen victim to the pandemic.
These and a number of other instances and examples that could be listed here throughout the pages, are a depiction of the kind of leaders we have entrusted our lives to. The kind who unashamedly have a subconscious sense of belief that the law is meant to apply to the man in the street and not to them, although the big book of law says that we are all equal before the eyes of the law.
They seem to live by some unwritten law that such ailments and sicknesses as the covid-19 pandemic can only infect the nameless and ‘statusless’ ordinary folk out there.
Phew!!