2020 has been a dark year, but tomorrow brings a ray of hope

At the stroke of midnight, firecrackers will light up the gloomy sky and screams will rent the air as people in various parts of the world bid 2020 goodbye and usher in a brand new year.

But one thing is for sure; the fireworks will be fewer and screams of joyless strident than they have been in the New Year celebrations in living memory. Nevertheless, the world will be more than eager to bid this year goodbye and welcome 2021.

Many people will be happy to see 2020’s back. It is a year that has been fraught with challenges, the worst in decades.

Covid-19, as we have pointed here for the umpteenth time, has upended lives from North Pole to South Pole. Pain and suffering, despondency and hopelessness have pervaded all corners of the world this dying year, thanks to SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus that first reared its ugly head at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, China.

By yesterday, 82,449,240 people had contracted Covid-19 worldwide while another 1,799,596 had succumbed to the disease.

In Kenya, 96,139 people had tested positive by Tuesday while another 1,665 had been killed by Covid-19.

That’s not all. The invisible virus has battered our economy and growth prospects are extremely gloomy. Dozens of companies and businesses have shut down during the eight months that the virus has ridden roughshod over our country. Nearly two million Kenyans have been shoved deep into the pits of poverty.

The government, which has generously supported companies, workers and the vulnerable in the society through tax reliefs and cash dole-outs, is hard up. Tax collection has plummeted due to businesses’ poor performance and the laying off of staff. But it is not only in Kenya – the global economy is on the back foot.

In addition, hospitals are heaving under the weight of high numbers of Covid-19 patients. Locally, matters have been compounded by striking health workers protesting over, among other issues, a dearth of personal protective gear.

In addition, millions of students have lost almost an entire academic year as a result of Covid-19, and some girls have fallen pregnant and other students turned to drugs during their long stay at home.

Besides Covid-19 and its associated challenges, Kenya has also faced several other daunting challenges. They include resurgent desert locusts outbreaks that have left farmlands and pasture lands bare. Droughts and floods have also made life nightmarish in various parts of the country.

High profile corruption – particularly regarding Chinese philanthropist Jack Ma’s donations and Kenya Medical Supplies Authority heist – have bared the appalling heartlessness of Kenyan graft lords and ladies and caused widespread frustration among ordinary citizens.

Without doubt, 2020 is a year we would all want to forget, and fast.

And while it is unlikely that the New Year will wipe out our tribulations and tears, there is hope that things might gradually get better in 2021. For starters, schools will reopen in four days’ time. That is a good way to start the year, no doubt.

Our main beacon of hope, however, is the successful development of Covid-19 vaccines. At the moment, thousands of people are getting inoculated, mostly in Western countries. With time the vaccines will land on our shores and help to drive the veritable monster into oblivion.

Once people start developing immunity, hospital visits and Covid-19 deaths will subside. In addition, stringent Covid-19 measures such as lockdowns, curfews and social distancing that have hurt social life will be relaxed and the engine of the global economy will rev back full throttle.

Shoppers queue at the entrance of Naivas supermarket along Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi. The supermarket is regulating the number of shoppers inside the facility to instill the COVID-19 social distancing regulations during the Christmas festivities shoppping rush. December 24th,2020. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

It will not take a day or two for economies to get back to normal, but by and by things will get better.

In Kenya, however, we must be extremely careful, for the pandemic slow-own might fail to bring the expected economic dividends. We are now two years to the General Election and campaigns will obviously gather momentum as the year progresses.

The Building Bridges Initiative referendum is also around the corner. We must not allow politics to slow down the recovery of the economy.

All in all, we are looking forward to a better tomorrow and sincerely hope that with the dawn of a new year, the dark cloud that has hung over the world for the last 12 months will finally dissipate and pave way for a new beginning. Things should get better, not worse, in 2021.