Dear Editor,
It is unfortunate that in the Land of Six Peoples an act of bipartisanship went unnoticed and unappreciated. This act of courage and thoughtfulness occurred on June 17th.
First, the backstory. As of the end of March the Administration was averaging 813 vaccinations daily since the first jab was administered on February 11. For the month of April, with the death toll reaching a record 66 deaths, the Administration averaged around 3,435 daily jabs per day. Then, inexplicably, the daily jabs were reduced to 1,886 in May (or thereabouts, it is only in June that the Ministry of Health began posting daily vaccination updates so the numbers prior to that are a bit nebulous at best), the same month which saw a record 99 deaths. Let’s be clear: it is understood that vaccinations in such a short time would not have saved those lives but they would have gone a long way to preventing the spread of the virus. Indeed, April, May, and June accounted for 48.5% of the total infections as of the end of June. So while the death rate soared to new record highs the Administration jab programme plummeted.
In the first two weeks in June the daily jabs further decreased to 1,469 per day. Surely this bespoke of the Administration’s ‘unenlightened’ approach as the virus continued to spread seemingly unabated.
Persons began wondering out loud what on earth was this Administration doing to halt these deaths and prevent the spread of this deadly virus? Clearly, whatever it was not enough— in a pandemic vaccinations are never enough. And, just as the voices began to become louder and louder thereby placing the Administration in the crosshairs of well-deserved constructive criticism of the highest order, the Opposition had had enough. It decided, it seems, to stand with the Administration and threw it a lifeline.
The loyal Opposition in a news conference on June 17, called for the suspension of the Administration’s vaccination Sputnik V programme and an explanation of the high cost of the vaccines given that they were procured from an allegedly shady middle man.
In essence, just as the Administration was beginning to feel some heat from Guyanese home and abroad, rightfully so, from its faltering vaccination approach as Guyanese were dying in droves from the virus the loyal Opposition stepped in to save the day for the Administration. The loyal Opposition did so by using one of the oldest plays in its political arsenal – the misdirection. In a split second criticism was drawn away from the ineptitude of the Administration’s unimaginative vaccination programme – as was evident by the falling average daily jabs and rising death tolls, and unto the Opposition’s asininity.
Mission accomplished. The Opposition gave the Administration exactly what it needed, when it needed it most, a diversion, a redirection of criticism away from the Administration and unto itself. Bipartisanship lives in the Land of Six Peoples.
Showing its thanks to the Opposition, the Administration immediately ran with the Opposition’s clever misdirection play and called it out for, amongst other things, placing a monetary value on the life of Guyanese persons. Ah, the indignation. The righteous calling out. The Administration had now what it needed most— an explanation of why the jabs had been decreasing rather than rising — it was all the Opposition’s fault.
Indeed, after the loyal Opposition spoke the daily jabs fell to 636 per day from the already low of 1,469 for the first two weeks of June. Never mind that the daily jabs had been inexplicably falling since April— who wants to talk about that? Who wants to talk about the necessity of a lockdown? Who wants to talk about a positivity rate above 10%—15 months after the first Guyanese death from this virus? Who wants to talk about the ease in which the Delta variant (with the Gamma variant right around the corner) is transmitted and what that speaks for future vaccination efforts? Who wants to talk about windmills like the Administration’s constant babble about obtaining herd immunity by vaccinating 80-85% of the population — something that is simply logistically, if not mathematically, impossible? Who wants to talk about a failure of leadership — if an Administration cannot convince its citizens to get vaccinated as their friends, relatives, and loved ones are dying all around them from the very virus that the vaccination would make moot, where is the leadership? Let’s talk about the cost of and inauthenticity of life-saving vaccines instead. Oh, and let’s talk about receipts — plenty of which the Administration had.
Well done, loyal Opposition. Well played. Yours was a selfless and thoughtful intervention of the highest order and showed your true patriotism.
Undoubtedly, this is the kind of unity that President Ali had in mind.
Yours faithfully,
Ellis Dee
