Jacinda Ardern’s shining example in leadership

The public health crisis caused by COVID-19 has brought into sharp focus the vital importance of leadership. The conflicting statements by different ministers in Karnataka highlights the confusion at the highest levels of administration in managing a crisis. That the chief minister should intervene and entrust a minister not concerned with health to brief the media is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in what is considered a progressive state.

The present situation is, of course, unprecedented and each nation has devised its own strategy to tackle the dreaded virus. However, the one essential requirement to deal with and overcome any crisis is effective leadership, be it at the local, state, national or global level. In this context, the leadership displayed by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been exemplary. In the space of a few months, she was confronted with three grave situations -- a mass shooting by an extremist in two mosques in Christchurch killing 51 people on March 15, 2019; a deadly volcano that erupted on December 9, 2019; and a global virus in early 2020.

How Ardern dealt with the shooting incident in particular is worth recalling. At the time the shooting took place, she was travelling in a van to visit a school in the town of New Plymouth. As soon as she was informed about the incident, what she did was something unusual for a prime minister. She did not give instructions to any of her ministers or officers to go to the spot and deal with the situation. She asked the van to be turned back, drove to the nearest police station, and closeted herself in a room with an aide. In between calls apprising her of the developing situation, she scribbled her thoughts on a piece of paper. After an hour, she rushed to a rural hotel and with a makeshift arrangement for a broadcast, the young prime minister delivered her message to the people of her country.

Ardern later recalled: “I just remember feeling this overwhelming sense of, here are people who have made New Zealand their home. Regardless of whether someone had been in New Zealand for a generation or whether they moved here a year ago, this was their home, and they should have been safe and they should have been able to worship here, and that was when I wrote down those words: they are us.” She further demonstrated her feelings by wearing a scarf and visiting a mosque, reassuring the Muslims in her country that she was one among them.

Ardern then exhibited another trait of her strong character and conviction. She refused to reveal the name of the shooter which, of course, surprised and perhaps angered the media, making sure that the wrath of the people was not let loose, leading to further violence. Next, she called for a meeting of heads of key European states and technology companies like Facebook and YouTube and sought their cooperation to prevent the spread of extremism and hatred online.

On December 9, New Zealand witnessed the eruption of a volcano in White Island, a tourist spot, killing nine people and injuring about 30. Ardern reached out to the affected families saying she knew “there will be a huge amount of concern and anxiety for those loved ones at the island at that time” and assured them of quick rescue and relief operations.

In dealing with coronavirus, when the cases of infection started rising in her country, Ardern declared a lockdown, with a 48-hour notice before it took effect, saying that a pandemic required “a significant and coordinated response by and across central and local governments” and for citizens to minimise their contact by self-isolation. The police and civil defence personnel were adequately empowered to ensure public safety and to regulate the flow of food, fuel and essential supplies.

We cannot, of course, compare a small country like New Zealand with a large and diverse country with myriad problems like India. But the way its prime minister responded to crisis situations holds out lessons in leadership. In an interview to Time magazine, Ardern aptly summed up what leaders can do in times of trouble: “When voters feel powerless and disenfranchised, we can either stoke it with fear and blame, or we can respond to it by taking some responsibility and giving some hope that our democratic institutions, our politicians, actually do something about what they’re feeling.” By providing a type of leadership that combined strength, inclusivity and compassion, Ardern, prime minister of a tiny island nation, became an international celebrity and a model for leaders elsewhere.

Sadly, some of our politicians, instead of taking responsibility, indulge in blame games. Considering the enormity and scale of the problems we are facing today, it must be said that most leaders and the people of India at large have responded with courage and fortitude. In any large country, leadership has to operate at different levels -- national, regional and local. India was one of the first countries to recognise the dangers of COVID-19 and set in motion preventive measures to control the situation, with clear directions from the Centre to the states and a task force to coordinate the pandemic related activities of various agencies. The briefing on the evolving situation is, however, done by an official of the Union health ministry.

In Karnataka, the responsibility of coordination and monitoring was entrusted to a task force comprising four ministers – the ministers for health, medical education, home and a deputy chief minister dealing with higher education. Different ministers gave out their own statements, instead of leaving the job to one spokesperson, who should have been the secretary of the Health department. Thus, communication on a matter relating to facts and situational analysis turned into a political exercise.

In unusual times like lockdowns, when a multiplicity of operations are involved at different levels, it is the duty of the top leadership to ensure solidarity and teamwork. The Karnataka government would do well to merge the departments of Health and Medical Education to provide unity of command. The two were actually part of one department years ago when I was health secretary of the state. When we are talking about integrated health systems, we cannot have a fragmented administrative system.

(The writer is a former Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka)