MONROVIA – As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to rage hell in Liberia, the Political Leader of the People’s Liberation Party (PLP) has blasted at President George Manneh Weah for his alleged failure to hold accountable those in charge of Covid-19 testing at the Roberts International Airport (RIA) for their “criminal negligence” in executing their assigned tasks and responsibilities.
Dr. Cassell is also the President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Dr. Cassell Foundation and the Kwenyan Security Firm operating in Liberia.
As of June 24, 2021, Liberia had about 1142 confirmed cases of Covid-19, according to the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL).
Dr. Cassell noted that it is not enough for the Liberian Chief Executive to hold an emergency cabinet meeting and instruct the health ministry to come up with regulations and protocols to combat against the pandemic and leaving those responsible for the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in the country to go with impunity.
His assertions were contained in a statement released in Monrovia over the week end.
Dr. Cassell maintained that the “crucial and decisive action” that appears to be missing on the part of President Weah is his alleged failure to hold the COVID-19 testing company stationed at the Robert’s International Airport accountable for engaging in practices that are characteristic of criminal negligence”.
He emphasized that these alleged acts have resulted not only to increased incidents and death rates, but it has overwhelmed the country’s poor and very limited healthcare system or infrastructure.
“To protect the public from further reoccurrence, this act of gross criminal negligence on the part of the management of the COVID-19 testing company should be fully punishable of the law and replaced with a reputable and trustworthy company”.
Bribing their way through
Dr. Cassell claimed that some travellers, especially those coming into the country from “hot zones” of the pandemic, including India are allegedly offering bribe to enter into Liberia via the Roberts International Airport.
He added that this is unfortunate and disappointing for such an ugly scenario to be happening in Liberia as a country with poor healthcare infrastructures and many of its citizens who cannot afford the cost of food, let alone medical services, a public health crisis of this magnitude can quickly result to devastating medical complications and significant loss of lives.
“It is very unfortunate but yet so real that while we’ve made so much progress in containing the incident rate of COVID-19 over the past several months, which in large has been due to lessons on interventions (testing and contact tracing) learned from the past Ebola epidemic in Liberia; however, when those healthcare interventions and public health measures are compromised by greed on the part of COVID-19 testing company, as evidenced by reliable and credible sources, to where individuals traveling back from countries such as India that is considered “hot zone” are bribing their way out of undergoing testing for fear of a positive test result, it has consequently resulted to a catastrophic effect on the lives of the public as we’re witnessing today”.
Wickedness
Despite a spike in the new COVID-19 variant, Dr. Cassell further blasted at members of the 54th National Legislature for awarding themselves the amount of US$30,000.00, with half of the amount already received by them.
Members of the Liberian Legislature recently received the amount of US$15,000 each for “legislative engagement” from the Government of Liberia (GOL), through the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning.
But the move has been heavily criticized by civil society actors and others on grounds that despite the huge salaries and allowances being paid Representatives and Senators in Liberia, the money dubbed “legislative engagement” should have been diverted to the struggling health sector in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
“As we all know so well, the incident rate of the new strain of the COVID-19 virus has taken a toll in our nation over the past several weeks and has claimed the lives of several individuals”.
“What this means is, 30 senators and 73 representatives will receive a combined total of US$3,090,000.00 which could have been allocated to properly manage the COVID-19 surge and to acquire oxygens and beds for hospitals which have been depleted and so desperately needed.
This behavior of gross insensitive and lack of empathy for the sick and dying citizens of our country at the hands of these selfish politicians is inexcusable and shall be judged by history”, Dr. Cassell stated.
Prioritize citizens’ health
Dr. Cassell stressed that the health of the public and the quality of lives of Liberians should be the primary responsibility of the government, and as such, it should be treated and prioritized as such.
He added that it is an “unfortunate predicament, as the vulnerable population and poor citizens of our nation are being re-victimized by another failure of our government to enforce the necessary public health regulations that could have prevented the spread of this new strain of COVID-19”.
He emphasized that the most vulnerable Liberian citizens are at greatest risk of dying from this deadly disease due to “unaffordability and inaccessibility to the needed medical services”.
PLP Mobile Clinic
Dr. Cassell, however, pointed out that considering the “gross disregard of the current government and politicians to enact policies that would address the public health and medical challenges of the country at this time”, the PLP will launch a mobile clinic in the country very soon.
According to him, the move will be his party own minimum way of making additional interventions in the health sector during this critical period in the history of the country.
“The PLP Mobile Clinic will be headed by professional nurses, physician assistants (PAs) and other volunteers. Their focus will be helping our disadvantaged people, who cannot afford high medical costs as they are the vulnerable population. Additionally, in the coming days, the PLP will be donating several medical supplies to hospitals and clinics to help address the current public health crisis in our nation”.
Dr. Cassell stressed that the lives of Liberians, foreign visitors and dignitaries are not to be bargained with for political, financial gains and/or special interest groups.
“I strongly condemned the behaviors on the part of both the current administration and legislatures as they are inhumane, cruel, ego-centric, greed driven, and at worst, what has gotten our country in the current deplorable state”.
Follow health protocols
At the same time, the PLP Vision Bearer has called on Liberian and others to continue to observe the health protocols put in place by the relevant authorities, including the compulsory and adequate wearing of nose mask and social distancing in a bid to defeat the deadly virus from Liberia.
He, however, prayed for God’s saving grace and healing hands upon Liberia and its people during this historic public health crisis.