The Government is remorselessly sending vulnerable and generally unknowing kids back to school, though it is making no pretence over the surge in COVID-19 infection numbers. In Prime Minister Dion Ngute’s declaration at the end of last week, he announced the dangerous spiraling COVID-19. The Government does not say any special measures taken to march the nosedive. Yet it is sending kids back to school!
It is an outrageous state of insensitivity by a Government to a reality that stands to have longstanding devastating effects on the country. Imagine a decimated youth! In every civilization, children are protected to serve their social role of continuity of generations.
A false notion has been widely upheld that children under 18 are immune to coronavirus. As if seeking to sound a subtle warning against that belief, Ebenezer Winnyawoko Motale asked in the traditional Cameroon Calling quiz on Sunday the age of the youngest COVID-19 victim in South Africa. He may pardon me for unveiling the answer outside his programme, but I believe he expects his quiz participants to talk about the two-day-old baby who died May 21, a couple of days after birth.
The child’s mother had been infected ahead of delivery, hence, a possible mother-to-child infection. If a two-day-old could be infected, how many times school-going kids and their secondary school and university seniors? It was reported on May 12 that three children, one of them five years old, died in New York of COVID-19-related infections. A 16-year-old died in France in March.
Even if children will rarely be infected – because this only means they are asymptomatic, that is they may get infected but may not manifest the symptoms, nor fall sick – children who contract the virus may infect adults who may fall sick and die. Therefore, sending children back to school increases the risk of more infections as teachers and parents will be more exposed. It adds a vital link to the chain, rather than break it.
It is unlikely that a Government department is implanting doubt in the minds of parents with regards to such apprehensions to subtly instigate them to resist the back-to-school call, but text messages received from the Ministry of Women Empowerment and the Family, not seen during the partial lockdown, have curiously increased in the days leading to June 1 back-to-school date. It is warning parents to keep their children home.
As recently as May 27, less than a week to the June 1 resumption date, a MIINPROFF text to millions of MTN subscribers read, “Let us occupy our children with creative and playful exercises as well as domestic chores. Let’s encourage them to stay confined at home.” Why now?
The DO and the Chief in “Tenue de Commandement”
I was looking at something else when someone posted two photos of the District Officer and the traditional ruler in the South Region who told the DO he was not interested in the “presidential” donated bucket for the fight against COVID-19. Both video and photos trended on social media. Not as if I’m not interested in “ça ne m’intéresse pas”, but I was rather looking at their swapped outfit.
In photos from the acrimonious scene of the rejected donation, the civil administrator wore the official uniform (worn by civil administrators – DOs, SDOs and Governors) and the traditional ruler wore casual clothes with a traditional cap. In the second of their more courteous encounter thereafter, I noticed it was the traditional ruler wearing “tenue de commandement”(power outfit, common with Fang-Bulu-Beti traditional rulers). The DO was in casual traditional dress.
It looks like the power uniform really emits power. The civil administrator was arrogant towards the traditional ruler when he was dressed in the power uniform but humble when the reverse obtained.
I am tempted to begin suspecting the power outfit has mystical powers that transforms those wearing them into some DONALD TRUMP-like monsters, a bit like the way an individual you know, once they wear Obasinjom or Nkor or Mabu or Malle, gets transformed into a deity or chief priest you must fear.
The traditional ruler now famous for “ça ne m’intéresse pas” might have decided to honour the SDO’s invitation, wearing his own power outfit to match power for power. Would have been interesting to see how two power jujus with an old grudge behave. (Un)fortunately, the civil administrator threw in the towel and went casual, hence, why there was a truce, not a rematch.
outside africa
America’s week of democracy and human rights backtrack
Democracy and its off-shoots – human rights, freedom of the Press and freedom of expression are in danger in the United States of America, drum-major and world policeman enforcing these values around the world.
In a couple of days last week, human rights, press freedom and freedom of expression were rubbished in the United States. A Blackman, George Floyd, was brutalised and choked to death by a White policeman, Derek Chauvin, on a street corner. The barefaced barbarism looked like images shot only in civilisations and countries tagged as savage. A CNN crew reporting live from the scene of a protest in Minneapolis, Minnesota against the death of the Blackman, was arrested during the live report. It looked like a scene from an African or Third World dictatorship.
Reacting to the violent scenes at some of the protests, US President Donald Trump tweeted in language that sounded like threats from a 1970s bloody African strongman. Trump tweeted, “I can’t stand back and watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right…”. In another tweet, Trump said, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Human rights, freedom of the press and freedom of expression by citizens are thus all put to question in the country that upholds them around the world.
The Trump tweet opened another pandora’s box. Twitter circumscribed its visibility and outreach, and issued a statement explaining: “This tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence.” That and other tweets by Trump containing misleading information to potential voters which Twitter says it fears could confuse voters. Twitter thus proceeded to begin fact-checking Trump’s and other tweets. In a back and forth tug-of-war between Trump/White House and Twitter, Trump attacked twitter for overlooking questionable content from China.
Trump, in turn, proceeded to pass an Executive Order (decree) to curtail legal protections of social networks from liability for content posted by users. A statement explaining the Executive Order reads in part, “When large, powerful social media companies censor opinions with which they disagree, they exercise a dangerous power. The cease functioning as passive bulletin boards and ought to be viewed and treated as content creators.” Hence, they must be held liable to their content. This plays straight into the hands of strongmen around the world who have often been censured by the US for censoring the media.
In the regulation and counter-regulation between Trump and Twitters, that by the social network is clearly more disinterested than the President’s. Twitter is simply regulating (a standard practice); Trump is censoring (a strongman abuse) so un-American. And the lesson is surely taken by who here are most desperate for such chaos to do their worst. America has done it!
Our oppressors will say, “Even America does it.”