In this week’s Monitor, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former president of Liberia and Nobel Laureate, reminds us of the important difference that women’s leadership has made during the COVID-19 pandemic and in managing other crises. She also emphasises the importance of global solidarity and multilateral cooperation when trying to stop a global pandemic and deal with its aftermath.
Coumba Makalou, head of the Salif Keita Global Foundation for people with albinism, highlights the responsibility governments and communities have towards people with disabilities and other vulnerabilities. She points out that many of the services people with disabilities rely on have been disrupted or suspended as a result of the measures taken to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
ACCORD’s James Henry Murray looks at why the African Union has called for debt relief as one of the ways in which to increase financial liquidity, so that African countries can devote more resources to managing the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and social impacts.
Lastly, Ibrahim Al-bakri Nyei considers the impact of COVID-19 on the 22 elections that are due to be held in Africa this year. He looks at some that have gone ahead regardless of the pandemic and others that have been postponed, and reflects critically on both the challenges and opportunities posed by the disruption of the elections scheduled during this period.