Covid-19 Response: Why leaders must inspire and earn citizens’ trust (Aimee Sheriff- Guest blogger)

There is a proven correlation between trust and success in stemming the tide of Covid-19.  While the world is racing to find a cure or vaccine that could stop the spread of this disease, trust is becoming an important currency to help countries achieve this. Samantha Power, the former US Ambassador to the UN, in a recent interview on CNN, cited political trust as a key factor in the female-led nations which have recorded tremendous successes in the COVID fight. So far, most countries are doing well at localising the universal guidelines to take society out of the woods. But, for some countries in the developing world, citizens’ compliance has been irregular. This assumption is at least drawn from a number of case examples which I will share later in this piece.

These developing countries — especially members of the Mano River Union — which are renowned for records of low trust capital, many are already indicating worrying signs of failure. This sad development brings to the fore horrific memories of how the Ebola epidemic ravaged communities in these countries due to the low trust in governments and their leadership.

For instance, at the onset of the covid-19 infection in Guinea, the country’s leadership focused on elections and a referendum which sought to extend the President’s term in office. Since then, the rate of transmission in Guinea has exponentially risen.  At that rate, even if the government were to recalibrate its response, the perceived political exploitation of the situation may well have eroded what was left of an already fragile trust of political leadership in Guinea.

In Sierra Leone, even though the government largely succeeded in enforcing its first three-day lockdown, the seeming lack of sensitivity to the critical needs of its population during the period further undermined any level of trust. For instance, in Freetown where less than 11% of the population have access to pipe-borne water, residents in some areas violated the lockdown and social distancing guidelines in desperate search of water. Shocking videos of law enforcement officials seizing water containers and assaulting the desperate citizens were very much the highlights of the lockdown, rather than the containment and contact-tracing which were the main business of the lockdown.

Liberia has been no different. Government officials who travelled and should have been quarantined flouted the rules and as a consequence, one official was the catalyst of the spread of the virus to the population.

In Cote d’Ivoire, the government’s attempt to construct a Covid- 19 testing centre in a community was thwarted by a community mob which burned down the building under the allegation that the government was bringing covid-19 to their communities. 

These events emphasise the importance for governments to strengthen their trust capital to succeed in any fight against the pandemic. Lessons from the Ebola response inform us that to build trust, governments must ensure honesty and consistency in communicating, transparency in decision making, depoliticization of any response; all underpinned by true compassion for its citizens. Political trust is essential to build rigour in squelching the spread of the virus and for citizens to be willing to be led by the facts, the science and emerging lessons from across the world. 

About the author:

Aimee Sheriff is an international practitioner and her current role is Strategic Management and Organizational Development Consultant.