CHANDA CAUTIONS GOVT ON COVID

By OLIVER SAMBOKO ZAMBIA will only win the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic by removing politics from the issue and allowing technocrats to do their work, former Health Minister, Jonas Chanda has said. Dr Chanda said if Government continued making political decisions and pronouncements in the pandemic, the result is that many lives will be lost to the new  Covid-19 wave that is coming in December. Dr Chanda said it’s sad that no one has been monitoring and enforcing the Covid-19 preventive measures. “People have been gathering normally at public places including at bars, churches and market places,” he said. He said the government should escalate the Covid vaccination among the public to 80 percent from the current two to three percent to achieve high level of vaccination. Dr Chanda said Covid-19 just like other pandemics like HIV/Aids are social- economic issues and non-political therefore politicians should stay away from making decisions that will in the long run put the lives of citizens in danger. “Firstly, Covid-19 just like any other diseases like HIV, TB, malaria and other deadly diseases, the best thing to do to conquer them is to remove politics,” he said. He said when politicians play politics on matters of health, the result is that lives are lost. Dr Chanda said the Covid-19 is a health, social-econonic issue which is not political therefore the politicians should stay away so that experts can make proper decisions in the interest of the public. He said the Government should also allow the clergy and the traditional leadership to take centre stage in disseminating Covid-19 messages because they are more trusted than the politicians who have been making conflicting statements on the pandemic. Dr Chanda said since the August 12 general elections, a lot of wrong things have happened in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic as the adherence levels have gone down. “Just after the August 12 general elections, the Covid-19 restrictions lifted themselves, so I’m wondering what the Minister of Health has lifted because we all know that the bars have remained opened. He said politicians should stop playing with the lives of people by playing politics on a matter that should not be politicised. “In fact there have been very poor Covid-19 adherence since the time the UPND were announced as winners of the August election,” Dr Chanda said.