HH Calls On Government To Step Up Covid-19 Response
UPND Alliance presidential candidate Hakainde Hichilema has called on President Lungu’s government to step up its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that his party is on standby to help with vaccination efforts.
In a video published to his Facebook page, the opposition leader says the Patriotic Front government has been unwilling or unable to learn from governments that have handled the pandemic better and that this is leading to the unnecessary deaths of thousands of Zambians.
He says that, 15 months into the pandemic, the country is still facing the same challenges as it was at the beginning - namely a shortage of oxygen and personal protective equipment (PPE) - and that the government is to blame for this mismanagement.
“By implication, this government and its incompetence is causing Zambian citizens to die,” HH charged.
To date, Zambia has suffered over 140,000 cases of Covid-19, leading to a reported 1,855 deaths, though the real figure could be much higher.
In light of these figures, Mr Hichilema specifically criticises the government’s limited and uneven enforcement of preventative measures as well as insufficient community testing, which he describes as “concerning”. He also condemns the government’s arrest of doctors following a go-slow by the Resident Doctors Association of Zambia over unpaid salaries.
Most importantly, he criticises the government’s “extremely slow” vaccine rollout, pointing out that in Zimbabwe, ten times the number of vaccine doses have been administered compared to Zambia.
Nearly 5% of Zimbabweans have been received at least one dose of vaccine so far, contrasted with 0.8% of Zambians. The Patriotic Front government has been repeatedly criticised for its slow vaccination programme, with Zambia being one of the last countries in Africa to begin immunising its citizens.
Mr Hichilema continues his statement by saying that his party can no longer wait until taking office in August to act on the pandemic as he recommends a number of immediate measures for the government to take.
HH urges the government to rehire any doctors that it has fired during the course of the pandemic, as well as working to better incentivise medical workers. He also calls on authorities to enforce preventative measures evenly, charging that “PF party membership cannot mean immunity to breaking the law”.
Finally he calls on the PF to stop abusing Covid funds and to spend money on PPE, testing and vaccines, rather than on election billboards and private jets.
In addition, the UPND leader has offered his party’s help and advice to the government in dealing with the pandemic, observing that “when it comes to Covid, there is no UPND there is no PF… just lives to be saved.”
The message comes at a critical time for the pandemic in Zambia, as the country is being gripped by a third wave of new infections, largely fuelled by the more transmissible Delta variant. On average the country is experiencing over 2,600 new cases a day, with hospitals and mortuaries unable to cope with the number of patients getting sick and dying.