The COVID-19 Task Force has neither the respect nor confidence of Guyanese

Apr 28, 2020 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,

COVID-19 is a killer. It threatens the lives of every Guyanese, no matter what political party we support, no matter our ethnicity, religion or where we live in Guyana.
The government’s COVID-19 Task Force is not supposed to be a political tool, not supposed to be an opportunity for dishonesty. In my opinion, this body has utilized it in pursuit of electoral fraud, thus, rendering the task force another political tool for APNU+AFC.
Most Guyanese have had no confidence in it from the very start. David Granger, who has not once been out leading the COVID-19 fight, even with 74 people confirmed with the disease and eight people dead, has now appointed Joe Harmon as the COVID-19 Task Force Chief Executive Officer, the man with responsibility for the day-to-day COVID-19 response. He has a staff of persons who have presumably been seconded from other government positions.
The task force secretariat, administrative and technical staff is still a secret. Most Guyanese are now finding out that the Task Force was not just a committee overseeing the response, but an actual response unit. Who are the staff members? How many staff members? Are they full-time employees? If seconded, from which government departments were they seconded? These questions concern the Guyanese people.
Now that Mr. Granger has confirmed Joe Harmon is no longer the Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency and is now the CEO of the COVID-19 Task Force, the Guyanese people would like to know the terms under which he is serving. What is his remuneration package for this newest of jobs? While we are at it, we would like information about the rest of the staff. Who are they?
Information has reached us that the staff members of the Task Force are being paid about $300,000 per month as a top-up to their existing salaries for serving on the Task Force. Why is there a need for this top-up? Are doctors and nurses and other frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19 benefitting from any financial incentive for putting their lives at risk every minute of the day?
Something is not right in the way the COVID-19 response is now an opportunity for a small group to benefit from, while many of our health workers must put their lives at risk every single day.
APNU+AFC has used the COVID-19 crisis for political purposes, but also for other unethical purposes. The $1B transaction for the rehabilitation of the Ocean View Hotel is a prime example. Outside of the rehabilitation cost, there is the rental cost of $22M per month and the retrofitting cost as a hospital, if that ever happens.
The choice of the Ocean View Hotel at that cost is highly suspicious. We could have extended Diamond Hospital for less, and then that would have led to a long-term improvement of the Diamond Regional Hospital. We could have improved the Guyana School of Agriculture Dormitory or the Cyril Potter Dormitory or the UG Student Dormitory or any number of other dormitories that are presently empty, because these institutions are under lockdown. Clearly, the choice of Ocean View was made with a crooked set of lens.
In the meanwhile, the COVID-19 Task Force and the government have done nothing meaningful since it was established, and since the first case was identified almost 50 days ago. The CDC started a timid hamper distribution with foodstuff donated by the private sector. After distributing 1,750 hampers, they stopped because the government said it wanted a long-term plan. What does this mean? People need help now; they cannot wait until tomorrow.
Japarts, a private company, has been able to distribute at least twice as much as the CDC. The Irfaan Ali-led COVID-19 Multi-Stakeholders Forum, established to help in the fight against COVID-19, has distributed more than 30,000 facemasks so far, and has distributed hampers with foodstuff and sanitizers to thousands of people. Other individuals and NGOs are doing the same, none of which was mobilized by the Nagamootoo/Harmon-led Task force.
We need a genuine Government response. All we have had from the government is gamesmanship and show. The time has come for a reckoning. We need a government that can take leadership and fight COVID-19. We need to test, test, test, so that our doctors and nurses and other health workers can do their job.
We need to provide health workers with PPE and with medicines and other things to provide safe, quality health care. We need proper quarantine facilities and isolation programmes. We need socio-economic support for the masses, for poor people who need support now, for small businesses that are threatened with bankruptcy. We need to energize the economy. We need the Guyanese people to be inspired by a legitimate government. We need these things now.
Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

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