ENFORCING POLICY COMPLIANCE IN DEVELOPING AFRICAN STATES

Are people rational actors or do the need coercion for compliance?

Mundane problems take a heavy toll that coerce compliance with new regulations that have been employed without full participation in the developing democratic states. Developing states include economies with lower per capita income categories with constrained policy processes. For these states, sudden policy announcements which tend to occur without consultations lead to public dissatisfaction, thus non compliance. In the view of the current global health pandemic, COVID-19, democracy and participation may not be prioritised as all states have limited personal human rights for sake of the common good.

THE RISE OF POLICE VIRAL VIOLENCE CASES

The High Court of Kenya at Nairobi on a Constitutional and Human rights petition, prohibited the National Police Service (among other ruling orders) from using unreasonable force in enforcing the curfew order. This followed the public outcry due to the rampant case of police brutality that had spread in the country. Civil Society actors led by the Kenya Human Rights Commision, Law Society of Kenya, Federation of Women Lawyers - Kenya and Independent Policing Authority (IPOA)

The police deployed 24,000 officers on the first day of the national lockdown. Photo: Ashraf Hendricks

In South Africa, a local daily reported that at least 3 people had been killed in the first 3 days of the lockdown as of 1st April 2020. Bloomberg also reported that Rwandan Police had killed two people by 25th March 2020.

UNDERSTANDING FLATTENING THE CURVE (SIMPLIFIED)

“Flatten the curve” is a rallying call for social distancing amid the global COVID-19 pandemic.

What curve? What does it mean? Why is flattening important?

In a nutshell, the curve refers to the number of patients infected with the novel coronavirus over time as seen in the chart above.

The ideal goal in fighting pandemic would be to completely halt the spread. For now, slowing down the spread— mitigation — is critical. This reduces the number of cases that are active at any given time, which in turn gives doctors, hospitals, police, schools and vaccine-manufacturers adequate time to prepare and respond, without becoming overwhelmed. Thus Flattening the curve simply refers to keeping the number of patients requiring health care low, so that our healthcare system is not overwhelmed.