The blow-blow parade continues in the government

Dec 19, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – During the recent Test match between the West Indies and New Zealand, local viewers would have been surprised to see spectators at the Test venue. Most of these spectators were sitting close to each other and most were not wearing masks.
Guyanese would have been asking themselves how this could be happening given that the world is in the midst of a pandemic. They would have also been perplexed that the West Indies players had to train for almost a month in isolation, yet here were spectators attending the match as if there was no COVID-19 threat.
The reason that spectators were allowed to watch the match and were not forced to wear masks is because New Zealand has one of the best records in containing the pandemic. New Zealand has a population of five million persons or about seven times that of Guyana. However, it only has slightly more than one-third of Guyana’s total coronavirus cases and a mere 25 deaths compared with 159 for Guyana.
New Zealand success was a result of having an effective lockdown during the early stages of the pandemic. It has also tested more than 25 percent of the population and this was coupled with a quick response in identifying and isolating cases and undertaking contact tracing. These were the simple secrets of New Zealand’s success. Today that country has only 43 active cases, a tremendous achievement which allowed it to have spectators during the just-concluded Test series between West Indies and New Zealand.
In contrast, Guyana has more than 6,000 cases and six times the number of deaths. Guyana is not getting it right and while the people are primarily to be blamed, the government is not setting a proper example.
The government continues with its wildness. While the Minister of Health is urging that citizens limit their social gatherings this Christmas, his colleagues continue to host and attend large gatherings.
Yesterday, there was a large event, attended by more than 100 persons, all seated under the same tent, at the National Stadium. The purpose of the meeting was to share out titles for government house lots.
This was totally unnecessary. There was no need for so many persons to be brought together. The people could have gone into the Ministry of Housing, based on appointments made, and uplifted their titles. There was no need for the pappy-show, which is expected to be rolled out to other Regions, thereby exposing more persons to the risk of COVID-19 infections.
A number of government Ministers and officials gathered at the Conference Center in order to watch a decision, which was being streamed, live. There was no need for so many persons to be assembled in a central place. They could have followed what was taking place from their offices. But the emphasis is on publicity rather than safety and this is why Guyana is in the mess in which it finds itself in relation to the pandemic.
Why are children being packed into school halls in order to receive Christmas gifts? Why cannot these gifts be distributed without all the ceremony and fanfare? What matters is the act of giving the children something, not the publicity of doing so?
During the pandemic, a certain newspaper publisher distributed 12 truckloads of hampers to poor persons. He did not publish it in the newspaper because he was more interested in helping people than in gaining popularity from this exercise.
Many of the persons who attended a recent gift-giving exercise were not wearing facemasks. There was no need for people to be brought to a central location in order for gifts to get to the children.
The Minister of Health has to speak to his colleagues and let them know that their actions are in direct opposition to what he is preaching. He is trying to limit social gathering so as to contain the spread of the pandemic, while many of his colleagues are on a blow-blow parade.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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