Living dangerously
Not long ago, every day we were waking up to the news of the death of someone we know or a loved one. There was a time in this country we lost two Cabinet ministers and several others due to Covid-19. I remember how gloomy that day and the days that followed were.
I also remember how almost every other Malawian called on the leadership to put strong and strict measures to control the spread of the pandemic. There was panic and rightly so because the number of deaths was not looking good. The health facilities were overwhelmed to the extent that citizens had to come in to render a helping hand in sourcing some critical medical supplies.
By now one would have thought that many Malawians learned their lessons and now they have an understanding of how dangerous Covid-19 is. However, Malawians are slowly throwing caution to the window. Pictures from political rallies as politicians go around the country campaigning in the by-elections scare me to death.
Leaders, who are expected to be exemplary, are the ones in the forefront flouting all the preventive measures all in the name of getting votes. Politicians from both sides of the political divide are seen with no face masks neither are they observing physical distance. All this is happening despite the fact that there is a third wave of Covid-19 looming. In fact, in other countries, they are already grappling with the third wave while here politicians continue to conduct business as usual. Political rallies are Covid-19 superspreaders.The personal choices we make every day will either make or break us and many of us may not survive the third wave that is sure knocking on shores.
Then we have politicians trying to score cheap political scores by politicising the Covid-19 vaccine. If ever there was a time that politicians and other stakeholders needed to work together, this was the time. Covid-19 is not discriminating against one based on their political affiliation.
Can politicians, for once, do something for the interest of the public rather than their narrow self-interests that are exposing Malawians to the pandemic? If we continue on this path, the third wave may hit us harder than what we experience these past months. Let political leaders and others lead by example and walk to talk.