Must we be hauled into devt kicking and screaming?

George Bernard Shaw, the Anglo-Irish playwright once said: “progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” When you pick almost any book or article on change, you are guaranteed to find a section dedicated to dealing with change resisters. You see, the assumption, or better yet, the reality is that, there will always be people who resist change; people who resist any and all changes; and people who simply have to be dragged kicking and screaming into change. That much is reality. In the last couple of weeks, both the City of Kigali authorities and Nyarugenge District leaders have had to deal with resistance to change to the extent that they had to resort to enforcing change - a scenario that I’m convinced was unpleasant and must have caused a predicament to the authorities concerned because they had to demolish outdoor advertising billboards that are allegedly worth millions of Rwandan francs. And while it is plausible to ask why city authorities had the audacity to demolish assets of businesses and thereby jeopardise some jobs (which wasn’t a sudden occurrence), it is also reasonable to consider their efforts to try and address the issue of disorder and congestion of billboards in road reserves and junctions as stipulated by the City’s 2012 outdoor advertising regulations. There are a number of factors to consider when evaluating this scenario; for instance, if the outdoor advertising billboards can go up anywhere, at any time, and in all shapes and sizes, what guarantees of safety do we have as home owners, pedestrians, or car owners when one day, for example, mother nature decides to test us with gale-force winds? Will that day be the right day to ask why a particular billboard was erected near a primary school entrance? Or better yet, will that be the right time to go checking that the craftsman responsible for the two-tonne steal metal billboard was qualified, and that he adhered to safety regulations? Is he even registered or can he even be traced not just to take responsibility but also to be offered skills to improve his craftsmanship? All this is progress; evaluating and addressing the cost of operating in an unregulated business environment that operates outside the parameters of regulations such as health and safety, consumer rights, and quality control. And to my knowledge, progress is not just about money in our pockets. It is much about money in our pockets as it is about adhering to rules and regulations, respecting the rights of consumers, safeguarding the environment, and generally taking responsibility of our actions. Are all these practicesun-African, I dare ask? Should we instead continue to be expected to settle for fruits being sold on street verandas just because it is the way we Africans are used to doing things - and that as long as it pays the vendor who is then able to put food on the table for his or her family then everything is okay? Why should we be stuck in the mode of survival where the only things that should concern us are food, water, and shelter? If that is your thought process, have you paused to ask yourself: what of the consumers of these fruits sold on a veranda - what protection do they have when the goods they purchase are sold by a vendor who has no access to toilet facilities? What do you suppose happens when the vendor needs to use such facilities? I know you don’t want to think about this part, but bless yourself because I will remind you that the vendor is faced with two options: leave behind the goods probably somewhere in the dirt, and hunt for facilities, or take the goods with him to the facilities and return triumphantly to sell you the goods. This, I am afraid to break it to you, is why authorities must establish rules and regulations that govern the business environment to protect the business and the consumer. It is important to note that generally speaking, it’s not the fact of change that most of us oppose, instead, it is the perception that we will be worse off because of it. Therefore, in many ways, it is also up to the instigator of change to go that extra mile to enlighten those likely to be affected the most by the proposed change and convince them, work with them, and help them understandthat change is in their best interest; maybe not necessarily so in the short or medium term, but in the long-term. In the past, I have fiercely put City authorities to task for their lack of public engagement which has seen them impose policies on people without their genuine input. However, I am also the first one to acknowledge that City authorities have improved on this aspect, especially so when you follow their activities on social media outlets like twitter. I strongly believe in involving the populace in the decision-making process of matters that affect them no matter how obvious the necessity for change is, because the alternative requires marshalling extra resources to counter negativity towards the proposed change. To conclude, it is true that frequently, the need to change our ways of living or in this case, doing business,will sometimes interfere with the autonomy we are used to, and therefore may make us feel like we are losing control of what we have worked so hard to achieve thus far. Therefore, it is only human that the instinct to protect what is ours will kick in, fiercely at times even in cases where change is guaranteed to bring better things. But, that need not be the case for a country that has lost so much including time. Our progress, or the pursuit of it, is already difficult enough as it is, we should not subject ourselves to become masters of resistance to change even when it is blindingly obvious that progress thrives where there are regulations, a set way of doing things, respect for each other’s rights, and a guarantee that those who follow rules and regulations are not left worse off by those who circumvent them. junior.mutabazi@yahoo.co.uk

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Must we be hauled into devt kicking and screaming?