Despite the ministry of health and Nacosec’s efforts to enforce WHO Covid-19 safety guidelines, adherence appears to be still much of a problem, especially in villages.
People, continue to attend gatherings in excess of the stipulated 50 and 100 limits. Liquor stores continue to operate way beyond the stipulated 7:00pm cut off time. Such practices do little to assist efforts to curb the spread of the deadly pandemic.
This is because the central government has had a half-hearted approach towards enlisting the buy in of local authorities, and chiefs.
Pandemics call for the intervention of public health which is the constitutional mandate of local self-governments, both community councils and traditional leaders in rural and urban areas.
Local and regional governments throughout the world, are at the core of the Covid-19 crisis. Whether our councils are working to ensure that the services that keep our communities functioning continue to be delivered to the best standards, or joining with a variety of partners at local and national level to address the impact of the outbreak of Covid-19, it is clear that local and regional governments will be critical over the coming weeks and months.
As well as containing links to useful websites, this page has been created to allow local authorities and partners to share their best practice examples of how they are mitigating the impact of the ongoing crisis. The examples come from cities and communities of all sizes and type and look at the strategies deployed to deal not just with the impact on health, but also on issues such as social cohesion, our economies and infrastructures.
Working together has never been more important and, as community leaders, driving development and creating sustainable communities that enable us to flourish now and in the future, local and regional government is well placed to rise to this challenge.