Covid 19 Masks Will Haunt PF, Big Mistake

By Parkie Mbozi

If you were old enough or/and have a photographic memory you probably remember the slogan “UNIP Cholera, UNIP Cholera”. It was used by the then new-formed Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) to de-campaign the United National Independence Party (UNIP) from power in 1991.

The ruling Patriotic Front has unnecessarily just handed the opposition a slogan for 2021 if the battle against Covid 19 soars (God Forbid). And it will happen if we are to face reality. If anyone disagrees please refer to the models of various countries that have been fighting to ‘flatten the curve’ of the spread.

The spread of Covid 19 follows the same pattern; it always gets worse before it gets better. How soon it gets better depends on how much you invest in ‘putting off the flames’ before they become ‘wildfires’, in the analogy of Prof Salim Abdool Karim of South Africa. Prof is a world-renowned HIV scientist and infectious diseases epidemiologist and Chairperson of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid 19. On the night of 14 April Prof Karim gave a wide-ranging and highly educative presentation on the pandemic in South Africa and globally that left many of us with the following questions: 1. Where are the voices of the cream of Zambia’s public health specialists and epidemiologists? What is Zambia’s model for ‘flattening the curve’? However, these discussions are for another day.

The focus of this article is on the seriousness of Covid 19 and why it should never have been politicized. Going by the cases that were presented by Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya yesterday, we have a battle on our hands. Just to put things into perspective, today 18 April marks exactly a month (30 days to be specific) since Zambia reported the first twin case of Covid 19 on 18 March. It involved a couple of Greek origin that had traveled to Europe. For a while all the new cases reported would be associated with someone who had traveled abroad. And we seemed to be Ok with that. We seemed assured that our leadership was in control, what more with a series of days without new cases?

Thirty days on, THE BATTLE IS ON; we now have community spread of the notorious virus. For those who do not know, ‘community spread’ means cases that cannot be traced to someone who had travelled abroad or a single person for that matter. We now have to chase and put off one ‘flame’ after another in the communities to avoid ‘bushfires’ (in Prof Karim analogy). Worse still, while some countries are talking about hundreds of thousands of tests, we are still below 3000. Contact tracing and testing are buzz words in the containment of Covid 19. The more you test, the more you identify and quarantine carriers of the virus before they spread the ‘flame’. Yesterday Germany was able to boast of containing the virus because of its ability to correctly approximate and positively identify the carriers.

In other words, 30 days on we are in the thick of things and there is no use pretending about it. From a global perspective, on 22 March when I did my last article, the WHO reported 337,500 cases of COVID-19 and around 14,500 deaths. Today, 18 April, this minute (08:17), 2,240,191 have tested positive, 153,822 have died and 568,343 have recovered. In Africa by 18 March 41 of 57 countries had reported at least a case of COVID-19 with a cumulative total of less than 2000. Today, only Comoros and Lesotho are yet to be hit by the virus. The cumulative continental totals stand at 19,833 infections, 4,634 recoveries and 1,016 deaths.

The point I am making is that COVID-19 is too serious a disease to play politics about, let alone brand on party lines. It is a hot potato. Like a hot potato it could literally burn the hands of politicians when the time of reckoning comes. Ask Donald Trump about the heat he is taking on his administration’s handling of the pandemic. Actually, as a researcher I have been following the pandemic from all manner of sources. I can state here that it is only in Zambia that we have taken the trajectory of polarizing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Davies Mwila, the PF Secretary General or CEO of the party seems to realise this. In an article titled “Secretariat Distances itself from the Party’s Branded Face Masks”, he issued the following statement, “I want to emphasise that the Secretariat has not sanctioned anyone to make face masks using party regalia. Those who have done so have done so in their individual capacity. As a party, we distance ourselves from that action. The fight against Covid 19 is apolitical. We urge all citizens including our members not to attempt to politicize this fight. Allow government to do their work in peace.”

Strangely within hours Dora Siliya, the chief Government spokesperson, contradicted her CEO, as quoted in the article on Lusaka Times titled, “It’s not a crime for a Party to use its Regalia to make Face Masks.” The article reads, “Ms. Siliya said all political parties, religious groups, and ethnic groups should unite (sic!!) to fight the pandemic, adding that the time for politicking is not now as the country is struggling to eliminate the disease which has affected everyone regardless of their political affiliation.”

These two contradictory statements lead to a number of questions: Firstly, who is in charge of the PF? It is only the PF that has produced branded face masks. The other parties, notably the United Party for National Development (UPND), made it clear that they would not produce any branded materials associated with the pandemic. In a statement to the media, Secretary General Stephen Katuka said, “We believe it’s chillingly desperate evil, and satanic to celebrate the prevalence of the disease and use it as a campaign vehicle, when the whole world is closing ranks to fight the pandemic across artificial barriers.”

Since the other parties have distanced themselves from this odd behaviour, any reference to or support for branding of face masks can only be correctly construed as defending the PF. Ms Siliya cannot claim to speak only on behalf of Government. The PF is the party in Government, hence the terms Party and Its Government (remember the infamous abbreviation). Also, in the PF of its founder Mr Sata (MHSRIP), the SG is third in the hierarchy, meaning Ms Siliya reports to him on party matters. In the setup of the South Africa constitution, for instance, Ms Siliya is a ‘deployee’ of the Party. If she would claim she is speaking for the civil service, that too would backfire. The Secretary to the Cabinet is the head and spokesperson of the civil service. So, there is something amiss here.

Secondly, there is a moral question; how does it help the fight against the pandemic to produce politically inclined materials in a country which, as we know today, is so polarized along party lines? We are in a country where individuals have been maimed for simply wearing party regalia. Who will be held accountable if this had to happen at this crucial time or if, given the shortage of politically ‘neutral’ materials, many people defy the Presidential directive for wearing face masks in public?

Is it not a self-contradiction on the part of Ms Siliya that within her statement she also says, “all political parties, religious groups, and ethnic groups should unite to fight the pandemic, adding that the time for politicking is not now as the country is struggling to eliminate the disease which has affected everyone regardless of their political affiliation?” Maybe madam Sumaili can help here!

The third question is a tactical one. Is it not a delicate gamble for PF to twin-brand the party with COVID-19? There are many conceptual and literal definitions of branding. Here is a simple one “the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design.” Another says, “the word ‘brand’ is often used as a metonym referring to the company that is strongly identified with a brand.” In short, by twin-branding, the PF is ‘promoting’ both itself and the COVID-19 brand. Time will tell if this is not a tactical error. Good luck.
The fourth question is an administrative one. Within the one month of some semblance of coordinated fight against the pandemic, we have heard some contradictions from our leaders. For instance, on opening hours for bars, recently on capital punishment of individuals who violate and/or ‘violate’ the recently announced ‘lockdown’ measures and now branding of anti- COVID-19 materials. The question, is the centre holding?

I will end by reminding my followers that in my last article titled, What is the Science Behind Some of Zambia’s COVID 19 Half Measures?, I questioned the efficacy of some of the measures put in place to fight the pandemic. Since then, a number of neighbouring countries have gone into one form of lockdown or another. Zambia has avoided a total shutdown despite numerous calls from political parties, religious organisations, etc. Our major concern seems to be business rather than the now known patterns of the spread of the pandemic.

Only time will tell whether our trajectory and/or model is a better one. Here is an indication: so far we are third highest in cumulative cases among our neighbours. Zambia has 52 cases, reported first cases on 18 March; Zimbabwe has 24 cases, reported first case on 20 March; Angola has 19 cases, reported first case on 21 March; Namibia has 16 cases, reported first case on 14 March; Malawi has 17 cases, reported first cases on 2 April; and Mozambique has 34 cases, reported first case on 22 March. The neighbours with highest cases are Tanzania (147) and DRC (287) but were also the first to report first cases on 16 and 10 March respectively.

As we debate whether to lockdown totally or not, here is the famous advice from Dr Anthony Fauchi, the face of the COVID-19 fight in the USA, “You don’t set the timeline, the virus sets the timeline.” (26.03,20).

The author is a media and health communication researcher and scholar with the University of Zambia. He is reachable on pmbozi5ATyahooDOTcom. The facts and figures in this article were sourced from WHO recognized and international media sources.