GOVERNMENT’S position to stagger procurement of the life-saving COVID-19 drug to protect the population is unfortunate as it shows the lack of seriousness by the country’s rulers.
Elsewhere and even the poorest countries in Africa have taken urgent measures to ensure a greater number of their populations receives the COVID-19 jab at the earliest opportunity.
Yet, Zimbabwe with all its infinite natural resources still believes this role squarely lies with so-called donor nations from the West. Is this how our rulers want to exercise their sovereignty, which they seemingly are eager to protect at all costs if only it suits their narrow political interests?
Certainly not, this is a sad and regrettable decision which puts the leaders on the front of the queue while the poor majority come last.
Prioritising Cabinet ministers, senior government officials, Members of Parliament (MPs), the security sector and lastly frontline health workers, speaks to the low regard government has for its people.
With a steep rise in the number of infections of the coronavirus, we believe this is not the time for government to wait for charity to save the precious lives of its citizens.
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube has countless times shouted his voice hoarse claiming the government had registered a surplus and that we are building forex reserves, yet health officials on Monday claimed that due to lack of critical forex reserves Zimbabwe has failed to import enough COVID-19 vaccine for all citizens hence the plan to give preference to the ruling elite.
True, losing five ministers Sibusiso Busi Moyo (Foreign Affairs and International Trade), Joel Biggie Matiza (Transport), Perrance Shiri (Lands) and Ellen Gwaradzimba (Manicaland Provincial Affairs) to COVID-19 is unfortunate and it exposes the country’s lack of preparedness to deal with the disaster.
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If this can happen to the ruling class and the well-resourced, what about the poor majority who depend more on government support?
We urge President Emmerson Mnangagwa to ensure government sources enough vaccine for all citizens. We reiterate that Zimbabwe is not a poor country and government should simply deal with misplacement of resources, corruption, self-serving and toxic politics.
Frontline workers have indicated that to flatten the COVID-19 curve, Zimbabwe would need to vaccinate some 10 million of its citizens. If this vaccination happens 12 months from now we have no doubt that the country would have witnessed more mortalities due to the ravaging respiratory disease.
It is hoped the government will prioritise our frontline health workers, the elderly and people with existing health conditions before inoculating the political elite and the general public.
We urge our leaders to forget about themselves because even if they are vaccinated first they won’t be safe until everyone is vaccinated.
Thus the clever thing would be to source enough vaccines to launch a countrywide inoculation roll-out to achieve the herd immunity we require as a nation.
