Public trust in government over COVID-19 approach waning fast

Trust in the government of Botswana`s (GOB) approach to management of the COVID -19 pandemic is fading at an alarming rate .During the tenure of the Khama  regime , trust of Batswana in the GOB  slowly but steadily became worse .Then , when Dr. Masisi came into power , trust in the government  increased  dramatically , only to wane again rapidly when COVID -19 became prevalent  in the country and the State of Emergency (SOE) was proclaimed .After a year , the SOE is still with us and criticism of the handling of the pandemic  appears not to be tolerated .The performance of the appointed corona Professor  leaves to be desired and even the police have lost confidence  in GOB as they have become rather lackadaisical in the implementation of the COVID-19 policies.

Let us look a little bit into COVID 19 management , to scrutinize whether the corona professor really know to approach this crisis ,Strict  lock downs  in the most countries of the world  were implemented  when the reproduction® number increased  to above 1.The  ® number indicates how many  persons with COVID-19 infects. If the R number ids below 1 , the incidence  of the disease  will decrease; if the number is above 1 , the disease will multiply rapidly. The higher the R number  , the more  people  will get infected .The corona professor  or the Outbreak Management Team advised to institute a lock-down last year March(2020)when Batswana only had a few cases and the R number was below 1 , thus wasting precious funds , productivity and causing loss to public trust. Currently, people in Botswana do not know the R number , as no information is made available  to the public .However , looking at the current COVID-19 figures , as provided  by the government, the incidence appears  to be going down, however the Greater Gaborone zone remains in the lock-down . Active cases as provided by the GOB.

           Date                       Daily average

       22 March 2021              302

        26 March 2021            344

        29 March2021               379

        5 April 2021                  306

 Major acceptance methods to avoid infection include keeping 1.5 m distance ,washing hands  frequently ,good ventilation and quarantine .Yet our good corona professor keeps stressing the wearing of mask  as the most important policy.The wearing of  mask  has created  a false sense  of protection , as many people in the country  wear below required  quality mask , or wear masks below the their nose .And whilst wearing these mask , people still hug each other, without keeping the required distance  of 1.5 meter. In addition , the poor ventilation of government buildings  may explain why so many civil servants get infected. Another example is the corona professor himself  getting infected because he was travelling  in a corona team bus , whereas the public is still crowding in public transport. While, with the new emerging variants  such as the Indian  one , which can make  even vaccinated people ill, Botswana should consider  or stricter  quarantine measures or entry stops from high risk countries.

The initial closing of the boarders was obviously a good measure , as many of the covid 19 cases I the country were imported .However , this measure was revoked ,whilst the Greater Gaborone  area  was once more put into lockdown .This is difficult to comprehend .Furthermore, the GOB fail to officially inform the public  of the  closing down of the Greater Gaborone Zone .The GOB even went as far as blantantly lying by posting on the website that the issue  of the covid permits was temporarily out of order. The government apparently  had no intention  of resurrecting the permit use through their website, and up to  today it is impossible  for essiantial  service companies based  in the Great Gaborone zone ,to obtain a permit  to provide  much necessary service  elsewhere in the country, instead it was decided to award the permit system  to the Brastorne  company to issue  licences through their Besafe application. Initial the app did not work on the phones with Mascom subscriptions , the app still does not work for many other people who do not yet possess or cannot afford  a smart phone can no longer obtain permits .And  the Besafe app cannot be used to obtain essential –service permits.

One may wonder why the public is deprived of much needed information and why the government resorts to sneaky methods of depriving the public of what is going in their own country regarding covid 19.Lack of information breeds dis-trust. Surely transparency in information dissemination would increase the trust and understanding of the people of  Botswana in the government  and icrease  the appreciation of certain measures, rather than having to speculate and become frustrated as to what is going on .To regain public trust soonest and to prevent discontent and potential chaos pleas keep the public  informed , share with the people when and why certain zones have to go into temporary lock-down, share the Botswana figures on a daily basis and make the R number public. Re –instate the  permit system through the website  whereby people  can print  permits and keep in mind  that not all people  carry smart  phones. Engage reputable companies to develop and implement new apps. Let people hear and see that there is nothing to hide  , stop the speculation , only then can things are move forward  and trust regained. And last but not least , why is the Botswana Vaccine Institute  not asked to reproduce  e.g the Astra Zeneca  vaccine , similar to the set –up in India.

ANONYMOUS