The Bhutanese Leading the way.
His Majesty The King turns 42 on 21 February 2022, but His Majesty will not be celebrating his birthday in the capital with his family, but instead His Majesty is on the frontlines providing leadership to quell a raging virus.
Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, His Majesty has provided important leadership in combating the virus.
It maybe worth considering now what would have happened if His Majesty was not there to provide leadership, and we went the way like most other countries in the world.
Our current death rate of 6 would be in the hundreds at the least going up to thousands even. Peru has around 6,417 deaths per million population while USA has around 2,815 deaths per million.
Instead of the 9,210 infected so far we would have around 80,000 to 160,000 infected.
There would be a lot of sickness.
Again, without His Majesty’s leadership we would be among the many poor countries still waiting for the first or second dose of the vaccine for the majority of its people.
Without the Royal Kidu of interest waiver and Kidu monthly payments there would be economic and social chaos followed by social instability.
There would be political instability as everything from the COVID response to vaccines would get politicized and dangerous political elements would take center stage for a people battered by the virus and its economic and social effects.
Without His Majesty, our limited medical infrastructure would have long collapsed under the weight of COVID cases leading to deaths in even non COVID cases.
The absence of a strong uniting figure would mean there is less trust between the government and people which is so critical to fighting the virus.
Various interest groups would lobby with political parties and many short term decisions, which would be disastrous for the country, would be taken.
All of the above are real possibilities and it is only the leadership provided by His Majesty that has saved us from the worst of a global pandemic.
On His Majesty’s Birth anniversary, it is now the turn of the people of Bhutan to follow COVID protocols and cooperate with authorities in fighting the virus.
The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.
Ray Kroc