Dear Prime Minister,
“The Covid-19 situation in Nepal is under control”. These were your exact words to CNN not even days after Nepal reported the highest single-day spike of coronavirus cases. While that was an obvious lie, the fact that your government has failed to combat the deadly pandemic is an irrefutable truth. Just some hours after you lied to the global community, the country reported 53 additional Covid-19 fatalities. As if that wasn’t ironic enough, the fact that your press adviser tested positive for a second time after tweeting about just how much the pandemic is under control in Nepal really adds to the laughing stock your government has become.
This open letter perhaps, wouldn’t even have been penned had your faults were limited to lying about our country’s dire situation, spreading misinformation or providing comic relief to the citizens instead of what we really need—a competent government dedicated to exorcising the pandemic before it destroys our small nation. It is baffling that it has become social media influencers and celebrities’ responsibility to share and update the masses about medical resources and oxygen suppliers which the country is running out of. Instead of working toward battling the pandemic with our country’s full force, it is absolutely shameful for the government head to blame his citizens for his incompetence to tackle the pandemic.
Is it really fair to blame the government’s inaction and incompetency to the scared, unemployed, unvaccinated citizens for simply trying to survive which might not always be in accordance to the ‘stay home’ order of your government?
Honorable PM, where are vaccines for us? How is our neighboring country with a worse flare-up of the virus than ours and with over 1.37 billion population is vaccinating its citizens at such a huge rate? Where have your friends from RAW, whom you discuss the nitty-gritty of your personal and political agendas disappeared? And why is it that our country is relying on just one company to get enough vaccines to inoculate all the eligible citizens when we are actually capable of buying the required number of vaccines? Why are we dependent on the mercy of commission-driven businessmen and embroiled in their games of personal gain during a national crisis?
The government is not utilizing ambassadors to efficiently collaborate with their counterparts to bring sufficient vaccines.
Our nation is suffering as governments have repeatedly failed to invest timely in science, research, invention, and medical sectors. Prime Minister, you had one job— not let the coronavirus ravage the country. However, all you do is make false statements. Not even CNN believed you as they published a new story criticizing your handling of the situation. The government is not utilizing ambassadors to efficiently collaborate with their counterparts to bring sufficient vaccines.
Dear PM, Covid-19 is very much not like “the flu” and no, we cannot simply “sneeze the virus out” or gargle with guava leaves, drink hot water and ingest spices to fight it off. Vaccination is a conducive solution to ward off Covid-19 and there are more than 10 companies that have developed Covid-19 vaccine and we do not need to rely on just one. Dear PM, if one doesn’t lie or downplay their circumstance, they may be entitled to help from those that can afford it.
I do not want to make assumptions but could you still have had the parliament’s trust if your response to the Covid-19 pandemic had been swift and vigorous? Better late than never, if your opinion piece on The Guardian where you finally admitted need for help from the “overwhelming burden” of the pandemic is a sign of seriousness and action which may provide us with a fighting chance against this pandemic once and for all.
Dear Prime Minister, if according to you, “nobody is safe until everyone is safe” then where is our vaccine?
Abdus Miya is a secretariat member of Bibeksheel Sajha Party and also leads party’s youth wing.
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