DEAR IMO HEALTH COMMISSIONER!
An Open Letter To The Imo State Commissioner For Health Objecting To The Proposed Covid 19 Community Testing Or Mass Testing In Imo State, Nigeria
We have heard your announcement, calling on Imo people to prepare for Covid 19 community testing; and we assume this to mean the mass testing of asymptomatic persons, that is, persons without warning symptoms and irrespective of not having close exposure to the Covid 19 virus. On behalf, in particular, of Imolites who may not have been acquainted with the facts of the intrigues, conspiracies and controversies surrounding the pandemic, I would like to quickly and sincerely express my fears and concerns regarding the proposed community testing programme. I would like to draw your attention to a number of factors that make this proposal quite worrisome. I may not speak the mind of everybody — and I do not intend to do so — but I certainly would represent the concerns of a significant percentage of Imolites.
Whereas, we are aware that Covid 19 is a public health emergency, which has been made a global pandemic; and whereas we acknowledge that it has led to the loss of several thousands of lives across the world, on account of several factors; we do not have the grounds to be confident that the community testing programme now being rolled out in Imo, is the best move at the moment and that it is in the best interest of Imo people. Such a measure would have been laudable if it were that we can trust the government and can entrust our lives and health to their care.
Alas! Unfortunately, on account of many precedents, we cannot trust the government, both at the Federal and at the State levels. No one on ground in Imo and in Nigeria at large, can deny that, as it is now, government at all levels do not have credence or enjoy popular confidence, as far as the greater majority of the people are concerned. The common man in Imo, and in Nigeria at large, cannot entrust his life and welfare to the government, without worry and in fact without disappointment. This has been the history and legacy of government as we know it, at least since the recent past.
A government that does not lose sleep when its citizens are massacred in dozens; a government that has no regard for the views, the fears and sensibilities of its people; a government that withholds the salaries and pensions of its workers for months, yet junkets and pontificates from post to pillar, from north to south; a government whose body language favours the hangman; a government who prefers to do things in the ‘Ben Johnson’ way; would certainly have traded trust for power, for politics.
Dear Commissioner, our people are afraid that the Covid 19 mass testing could be risky; in the sense that, it could be a ploy to expose people to the intrigues and treacheries that have marked the pandemic everywhere. The possibility of the Covid 19 tests and vaccines being used as a ploy or a cover to gain access and control over the lives and freedom of people, has been alleged by several persons of no mean repute. This is because it is the test that creates the link between individuals and the Covid 19 handlers. In many cases, the handlers and the figures they tell us, regarding positive and negative cases, have been shown to be unreliable.
Furthermore, the unreliability of the test kits have also been alleged by competent persons from the medical and pharmaceutical community, both at home and abroad. The handling of the pandemic is obviously marred with deception and double-dealing. As an instance, by the end of August, it was alleged that the US CDC adjusted or clarified Covid death rates in the US, wounding the figure of deaths actually caused by Covid 19 to less than 10%. This may be true or false, but it speaks to the duplicity that surrounds the pandemic.
Our people see no ground to trust that the government would do everything necessary to ensure their safety in the face of the global controversies and contrivances that have characterised the pandemic. Our people have cause to worry that the mass testing programme could expose them to disguised snares or make them victims of industrial intrigues or international contrivances, as has already been loudly alleged. These days, dear Commissioner, a lot of things are masked.
Now and again, when we as a people have trusted the government, even in simpler issues as defending the rights of the masses, protecting their interests and obtaining their share of the national treasury, almost habitually, the government has often failed us. We have seen governments, both past and present, make promises, but end up dashing the hopes of the people. We have seen governments play politics with the very lives of their citizens. We have seen governments; whose actions are bereft of goodwill for the people. We have seen government officials routinely renege on their avowed commitments and even outrightly sell out the people. We have seen governments who serve other interests other than those of the masses. This is true in many areas of our relationship with government, Federal, State and Local; so much so that our people have learnt not only not to count on government but to do without the government. This is true, dear Commissioner, and it may not be different this time.
Across the world, dear Commissioner, several issues have been raised by eminent and competent persons regarding both the safety and efficiency of Covid 19 test kits and vaccines. Concerns have been raised about the potents and purposes of the tests and the proposed vaccines. These alarms are rife and profound and so cannot be wished away. They may be called rumours and conspiracy theories, but we have lived long enough to know that rumours are more often than not, the precursors of truth and reality. They cannot be ignored without peril and regret!
This is not the time to do trial and error, or to play politics with the health and lives of Imo people. This is not the time to simply dance the tune of the piper. This is a time to be discreet and discerning. This is a time to show courage and patriotism. There is no ground today to trust the government to have taken due diligence to see that our people are in safe hands regarding the tests and vaccines of Covid 19.
On the contrary, there are grounds to worry about the motives behind the ‘rush’ to begin mass testing of people who have neither symptoms nor have been directly exposed to the virus. We request the Imo State Ministry of Health to take a second look at this move. We beg to be spared of the customary sing-song that: the government is in control or that it knows what it is doing; because in the events of the past, no one has ever been held accountable, even when irreparable harm have been done on account of the failure of government.
On Saturday, the 20th of June, Donald J. Trump, president of the United States of America, openly announced that he has ordered Covid 19 handlers in the US to slow down the testing of Americans, declaring that the Covid 19 testing is a “double-edged sword”. As expected some self-acclaimed public health experts called the move “dangerous and deluded”. But, interestingly, just last week, on the 25th of August, the US Centre for Disease Control finally, quietly, agreed with President Trump in its modified coronavirus testing guidelines.
This new CDC guidelines states that people who do not have symptoms, do not need to be tested, even if they have been recently exposed to the virus. But even if this seem to go too far and we choose to follow the earlier, stricter CDC guidelines; even that one recommends testing only for people who have had close contacts with infected persons or those who already have symptoms; and not whole communities. Officials have insisted that the CDC revised its guidance to reflect current evidence. It has been said that mass testing is a two-edged sword; it has also been alleged that poorly timed testing could lead to both false-positives and false-negatives, thereby complicating the process and exposing people to unreliable decisions.
In the light of all this, dear Commissioner, it is surprising that your Ministry is rushing to begin mass testing of Imolites. As far as we know, even from your good office and the Imo Covid 19 Committee, Imo State is not in a situation of Covid 19 crisis; the pandemic is well under control in Imo. The move to quickly begin community testing therefore looks suspicious. To say the least, the mass testing of Imo people is yet unwarranted. In Europe and North America, where there is an actual Covid 19 crisis, they mass testing of people who have had no exposure to the virus is not yet happening; at least in a massive scale as to warrant news reportage.
Yes, in some European countries there are plans to begin the mass testing and vaccination of school children, but even at that, people are already mobilising to resist the move, since the motives are yet uncertain. Several people, scientists, as well as ‘insiders’ who see beyond what the news media tell us, have warned us ahead of time to resist the seeming pre-planned mass Covid 19 tests, vaccines and drugs, because they may not be safe. These allegations, again, are not unwarranted since they emerge from credible sources. It is an open secret that Covid 19 is a big game of death and a weapon of international politics. Evidences are replete to the effect that Covid 19 has been given underpinnings and agendas that are hidden from the public eye. These are among the grounds for our fears, dear Commissioner, and so we ask you to rethink the decision.
Given the way, the Covid 19 crisis has been handled, both in Nigeria and abroad, we insist that we have no grounds to trust the motives and responsiveness of government in this matter. A clear example of the incredulity of the government in this matter, is the case of the Chinese doctors that were brought into Nigeria at the wake of the Covid 19 spread. To the best of my knowledge, the Nigerian public are yet to be certain about who brought them, what they did and the motives they came to serve.
We would therefore, encourage everyone to take good care of themselves, protect themselves and protect other people; and for this reason, to faithfully and dutifully adhere to the Covid 19 precautionary measures. But we would also encourage everyone to stay away from the proposed Covid 19 mass testing of people as well as to stay away from the drugs and vaccines from the government; since, as usual, the government may not be able to vouch for their source and their safety with certainty. Happily, the Imo Covid 19 team has already said that Covid 19 is not a death sentence. Which means that, one would be fine if one follows the precautionary measures. This is our take, dear Commissioner, on this matter, and we are only being cautious and concerned for the health and safety of the common masses in Imo.
Michael Richmond Duru
Rome, September 5, 2020
https://michaelrichmondduru.medium.com/subscribe
