Former President Peter Mutharika says individual efforts are key to the fight against an upsurge of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the country.
Mutharika posted on his Facebook Page that his administration was at the front urging Malawians to take the fight against the virus seriously, but the issue was politicised.
“Coronavirus is real and it was very unfortunate that at a time that we would have best fought the pandemic as a nation, some Malawians politicised the efforts to the extent of saying Corona Virus never existed in the country. Today, the numbers of confirmed cases continue to rise and the death toll is sky-rocketing each passing day.
“As we wait for the Government to address the situation with utmost urgency and seriousness, I want to urge you to continue washing hands with soap frequently, observe social distancing, wear face masks, use recommended sanitizers, go for tests and follow other measures as advised by our health personnel,” he said.
But his post received a backlash from his followers who accused him of masterminding the whole issue to dodge elections, while others backed him for the effort to control the spread of the virus.
“Your message is clear sir, but the problem is that you were both playing hide and seek. This is not a time to keep blaming or pointing fingers at each other but to act and move forward. Thanks for your advice,” reads a comment from Callen Apologetics Usale.
Aubrey Mwenda said: “Your message Mr President is clear. The problem of our nation is that we oppose just for the sake of opposing. You did your part but the problem was greed of some individuals and CSOs. Indeed, things we belittle now may mount later, it has happened. On this, your hands are clean. I salute you, Sir.”
Another comment from Ronnex Mbale: “But to some extent it was wise to boot you out first then struggling with COVID-19 later,,, previously we got 2 battles.”
Margret Tendai Mwale commented: “You messed up at the beginning Prof. The sad thing was the introduction of the index case. You came on air giving information which was contradicted by other reliable sources of information & you never came back to fix things. Now people already didn’t like your Administration & this made them not believe you. All we needed was evidence and assurance but your administration would tell us one thing & zochita kukhala zina (doing the contrary). We lost faith & trust in you…if anything, you were the ones that got us to where we are.”
Joseph Nixon Lupiya said: “Liar! Sir, we really know that you really didn’t want us to exercise our right to vote you out. You used COVID-19 and other reasons to justify your stance. Thank God for He was very watchful and helpful. He used the wise Judges, Parliamentarians, Dr Chifundo Kachale, Dr Chakwera, Dr Chilima and other Malawians of goodwill to throw you out of that illigimate power. I still believe DPP was more venomous than Coronavirus.”
