Crisis responses, opportunity, and public authority during Covid‐19's first wave in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan

Abstract

Discussions on African responses to Covid‐19 have focused on the state and its international backers. Far less is known about a wider range of public authorities, including chiefs, humanitarians, criminal gangs, and armed groups. This paper investigates how the pandemic provided opportunities for claims to and contests over power in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan. Ethnographic research is used to contend that local forms of public authority can be akin to miniature sovereigns, able to interpret dictates, policies, and advice as required. Alongside coping with existing complex protracted emergencies, many try to advance their own agendas and secure benefits. Those they seek to govern, though, do not passively accept the new normal, instead often challenging those in positions of influence. This paper assesses which of these actions and reactions will have lasting effects on local notions of statehood and argues for a public authorities lens in times of crisis.

Epidemics and the Military: Responding to COVID-19 in Uganda

“…Indeed, if they had not found ways to assist each other, they would have struggled to fish, cultivate their crops, feed their children and/or generate income for health care. Such modes of mutuality resonate with those reported by Parker et al (2019a , 2019b) during the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone and Kirk et al (2021) during a COVID-19 outbreak in Bukavu and Goma, DRC.…”

A Qualitative Evaluation of COVID-19 Preventative Response Activities in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

“…Furthermore, the broader context of political and civil unrest and community distrust of government authorities makes police enforcement of mask wearing challenging. One potential alternative would be the model implemented already in some communities of Bukavu and Goma, DRC where communities appoint individuals to serve as part of a community watch program and hire military personnel directly to ensure mask wearing in public spaces [ 24 ].…”

“…Countrywide vaccination is currently low at 4.18 total doses administered per 100 individuals [ 23 ]. Continued widespread civil and political unrest also serves as a challenge to a coordinated COVID-19 response in the DRC, particularly in North and South Kivu in the east [ 24 , 25 ]. South Kivu has an estimated population of approximately 6 million and is largely rural outside of major urban city centers such as Bukavu.…”

‘Vaccine populism’ and migrant assistance: On the contingency of mutual aid in Italy's Alpine region

“…Lund notes that in contexts of intense institutional competition, the provision of welfare can become actively politicised (2006). Assistance thus emerges not as a service which is delivered—but as an arena where actors complete to advance strategic political and economic interests (Kirk et al, 2021). While the majority of PA scholarship has focused on African borders, such insights are highly pertinent to European settings such as Oulx, where a variety of activists and institutions assist migrants.…”