As the Political Leader of the opposition Alternative National Congress (ANC), Alexander B. Cummings, offers unconditional services to the administration of President George M. Weah in helping to curb the widespread of the deadly coronavirus, the President has welcomed him to join the fight against the scourge, and commended his patriotic effort as a good citizen of Liberia.
Recently, the ANC Political Leader took off his political cap and opened his arms to the Weah government in joining ranks with the regime to collaboratively fight the disease. Cummings’s preparedness to help has begun to manifest through his engagements and discussions with international partners about the deteriorating health situation in Liberia. He is said to currently be in the United States, soliciting help to alleviate the tension on the health sector.
Furthermore, Cummings has made a number of recommendations to the Weah administration in taking seize of the health situation: recast the budget to provide funding for the purchase of beds, PPEs, masks, vaccines, ventilators, oxygen and massive awareness; solicit additional support from Liberians in the diaspora and the donor community; increase the hazard pay of existing health workers and employ more health workers an contact tracers; immediately close all schools and ensure the completion of the semester from home, pending the end of the crisis; work with community leaders and community-based organizations to create awareness and help with enforcement of GOL new regulations instead of the use of paramilitary forces; set up a hotline where people who have families or friends with severe symptoms of COVID-19 can call for help and be linked to the nearest isolation or health center.
“I offer to work with the government in whatever way I reasonably can to help us out of this situation. The Cummings Africa Foundation is open to working with authorities of the Ministry of Health to identify some of the urgent gaps in the national response that we can make some quick interventions to,” Cummings’ statement entailed.
In an exclusive interview with media institutions, including the Hot Pepper, President Weah noted that he welcomes the move made by Cummings and he, too, is willing to listen to and work with him, void political obstruction. “The coronavirus is no joke…Liberians are losing their lives every day to the plague. During a national crisis of this nature and magnitude, all hands of good citizens, void of political affiliation, are required on deck,” President Weah emphasized.
He said this is what good citizens do, recounting that during the EBOLA health crisis he worked with the Unity Party (UP) government to fight against the virus—not because of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf but because he was a good citizen who wanted to help save his country.
According to him, Cummings’ help, if it comes without political undertone, will go a long way in beefing up the health sector and finding a remedy to the unanticipated health crisis.
On the dismissal of the Ministry of Information’s Deputy Minister for Public Affairs, Eugene L. Fahngon, President Weah said it is disappointing to see an official of government providing false and misleading information to the public at a time everyone is looking up to the government for credible information and workable solutions relative to the survival of them and their families.
He said the information provided by the Deputy Minister was false and misleading; in fact, Fahngon had no authority to speak on the health matters, and as a member of the Executive, he was way out of line.
It can be recalled that, in a Facebook live video on the topic, “Legacy on the Brink…COVID-19 Variant”, Deputy Minister Fahngon alleged that the measures put in place to curtail the third variant of the virus are immaterial, and that the legacy of the President relative to the fight against the deadly virus was on the brink of annihilation.
Deputy Minister Fahngon continued that the AstraZeneca, the vaccine being used in Liberia to fight the virus, is associated with side effects, and recommended that the citizenry not take the dose. According to him, he got sick when he took the first dose of the vaccine.
“The Chinese government has expressed willingness to supply Liberia with a consignment of its own COVID-19 vaccine, but there are politics interplaying, something that might be catastrophic in the end. Everything in this country is politics, even when it involves lives. There are many others, including some top government officials playing politics with this vaccine thing and it may cost us terribly,” Fahngon claimed.
However, the Deputy Minister has paid the iron price for comments viewed unworthy of a Deputy Minister of government—President Weah has finally dismissed him from his position, replacing him with Jarlawah Tonpo, who served as Director of Press and Public Affairs at the Liberian Senate.
President Weah informed the media that two health committees have already been established to carry out specific functions: Sparkle and Incident Management System (IMS), and that he heads all the two committees.
The Incident Management System (IMS) is the technical and operational arm of the Ministry of Health’s COVID-19 response, and is made up of only health experts and partners. For Sparkle, it is made up of experts, government officials and partners, and is responsible to assess the workings and review the activities of the IMS and solicit resources from foreign governments and partners for the response.
However, President Weah disclosed that at no point in time did Deputy Minister Fahngon sit with him, as head of the two teams, to ascertain the facts, neither did he do so with the Minister of Health, emphasizing that the Minister of Health is the only person clothed with the full responsibility to inform the public on health matters and the state of the health sector.
The dismissal of Deputy Minister Fahngon took effect Wednesday evening, June 23, 2021.
Meanwhile, President Weah has commended the public for following the health measures put in place by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Public Health Institute (NPHIL), and urged everyone to continue abiding by these protocols to prevail over the virus. He said the fight against the virus requires all hands on deck and the collaborative effort of every citizen, irrespective of creed, religion or political affiliation.
He extended heartfelt appreciation to the nurses, doctors, physicians, physician assistants, midwives, contact tracers, administrators and everyone playing a role in the health sector, commending their effort and their gallant work of volunteering for Mama Liberia.