HRDC says not against lockdown: ‘Malawi govt should first insulate the poor’
The Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) chairperson Gift Trapence has said they are not against measures to curb coronavirus, clarifying that they sought a court injunction because government did not take measures to cushion poor during lockdown.
Trapence speaking on Times Radio during the ‘Sunday Debate’ programme clarified his organisations’ decision to challenge government’s planned three-week lockdown on Friday, which saw the High Court ordering a seven-day suspension.
“We are not against lockdown or any measures meant to curb the spread of coronavirus. But what we want is government to make more consultation to prevent harm to the poorest and most vulnerable of society,” said Trapence.
“We would want to see a more coordinate effort as a national response and not a partisan response,” he added.
Trapence said the national response should include all stakeholders including the civils society organisations, religious leaders and other political parties coming together to pull in one direction.
Small-scale traders, often young people, had been staging protests countrywide against the planned lockdown, carrying placards declaring that it would be better to contract the virus than die of hunger because they are unable to work.
Most of those protesting called on the government to provide them with cash and food handouts if a lockdown went ahead.
The HRDC leader said they are simply calling on government to insulate the poor and average income earners from the lockdown
He said President Peter Mutharika should not be is using the coronavirus outbreak to “prolong his stay in power,” and defer the presidential fresh elections.
Mutharika, who in July is facing a re-run of last year’s annulled election, has declared a state of national disaster on coornavirus and announced the lockdown.
He has also banned public gatherings.
Trapence said the government should not use coronavirus status as a scapegoat to continue the president’s rule.
Malawi’s Information Minister Mark Botomani dismissed such comments as “the usual noise” from civil society groups.
“Our focus as a government is to put everything in place to protect the lives of our people,” he said.
Health Minister Jappie Mhango said the number of coronavirus cases had risen to 17 from 16, saying three of the 17 coronavirus patients were recovering and could soon be declared cured.
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Don’t start backtracking, when people start suffering we are coming for you homesexual Trapence
Botomani is the one that makes the “usual noise” that the government cares for the people. If it really cared, would it have declared a lockdown without consulting other interested parties?
The bottom line is that all sensible Malawians know that this lock down was and still is a politically motivated move by DPP to avoid the upcoming election in July and has nothing to do with saving lives.
A sensible govt would have consulted the major stakeholders including the opposition to carry the people with them before the lockdown was announced……dictatorships does not work even in times of national emergencies.
Secondly we need a locally tailored lock down solution for our country and not copying what other rich countries are doing.
Western governments introduced lock downs in their countries together with financial packages to make sure no single person dies of hunger in the name of fighting coronavirus. Almost everyone in Europe has running water and reliable electricity supply in their homes so how on earth can we copy a lock down from such countries when less than 5% of our people has electricity which is not even reliable.
In Malawi what we need is to spend our little resources on testing and contact tracing to stop the spread of covid 19. We are lucky that we are a young nation with over 75% of our citizens being below the age of 35 this is good news because covid 19 is deadly to the older generation, the above 50s.
If we come to a point where the situation demands a lock down this should Only be partial lock downs only targeting the hot spots and the government should be prepared to give financial packages to the vulnerable in those hotspots. This will be manageable by our limited resources rather that putting the whole country under lockdown unnecessarily and putting lives at risk of hunger for no reason.
Learn fro countries like Ghana where the lock down is only for the capital Accra, learn from South Africa where their unemployed citizens received employment benefits.
Well spoken chief. Straight to the point. For the love of Malawi.
Unfortunately whatever you say now Mr Trapence Vendor saalola. You have him an inch and be assured that he will take a mile and Malawians will die. Even if safetynets are put Some careless statements have been made by people that covid is not real in Malawi. Munthu wakumudzi ndiovuta. That mindset will not easily be reversed but goodluck.
For the inter-party hearing on Friday, HRDC should prepare well. Some of the countries that have been most successful in keeping Covid 19 at bay have in fact not implemented lockdowns at all. Their approach has been aggressive testing, contact tracing and quarantining those who test positive. These countries/territories are Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea. The DPP government should realize that they have no choice but to spend the billions set aside for Covid 19 on these important areas: Extensive testing, thorough contact tracing, and effective quarantine of positive people. Without these three measures, a lockdown won’t achieve much since positive people will continue transmitting the disease to family members, shopkeepers and market vendors, who in turn will be passing on the disease to other people and so on.
Ironically, the government that has been so effective against Covid 19 in Taiwan is led by a party known as the Democratic Progressive Party!!! Similarities can sure be very deceiving…
I hope you realise that all the countries that you have mentioned are high tech and mobile phones have been used a lot in contact tracing. Not everyone has a mobile phone in Malawi. However let us use examples of countries that are very similar to us and are somehow managing thins issue successfully and I wish to go with Uganda. I agree that testing, quarantine etc are important but Uganda was one of the first countries to lockdown after the soonest case and until now it has not had a death. Uganda is very familiar with pandemics e.g Ebola and also has made a name in managing HIV. In this fight. Time is of the essence. Now 17 infections and 2 death realistically doesn’t offer optimism. God help us all