-Pundits Declared The Doctrine Of Selectivism As A Dreadful Cancer On The Image Of Nationalism
Unfolding developments of late, bordering on the doctrine of selective drive in complete contradiction of government’s standing policy as proclaimed by the Ministry of Health regarding “social distancing” have sent a sharp wave through the spines of the media landscape in particular and the greater public in general.
Featuring two occasions that obtained in Monrovia which squarely and openly reflected the act of violation, beginning with the massive gathering of people on the premises of the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) and the infamous adopted and applied measure against the media which spiked the spirit of collectivism (inclusiveness) when only nine media including one print entities to cover the MICAT’s press briefing with emphasis on the Coronavirus (COVID-19) at the expense of the pool of left out media houses had not gone down well with the media practitioners and the general public.
The government in its officially sanctioned health protocols released to the public few days ago and must be strictly adhered to, declared that people should desist from being In a crowded environment, the reduction of travelers in vehicles, the abrupt closure of church and Mosque services as well as schools to name a few, was not upheld when a large crowd gathered at the MCC’s compound to publicly unveil the sensitization taskforce for the various communities in Monrovia.
According to callers on several phone-in talk shows hosted by several radio stations in Monrovia, they viewed the gathering of a huge crowd at MCC as not being in the supreme security interest of the people which also tantamount to gross violation of the government’s health safety protocols and the exclusion of bulk of the media from the regular MICAT’s press briefing on grounds that MICAT was observing the distancing policy and also based on advice from health authorities about the control of huge crowd gathering at a place.
Pundits see this new method of exclusion of a large segment of the media on such ground as to avoid over crowdedness and keep the rule of social distancing as adding ‘gas to fire.’
The pundits observed that such stunt of exclusion is wicked and unhealthy to the freedom of broad-based dissemination of cogent information.
Pundits also informed authorities at MICAT to be mindful that it would be foolhardy for the ruling establishment to impose on the people which media outlets to receive important and security-driven information that threatens their security because every media outlet has its own special audience and must not be regimented to be “yes sir people”.
They again wondered what would have happened had members of the oppositions or any other group, cognizant of the government’s health protocols in full swing had pulled such a huge crowd that was portrayed at the MCC’s compound concerning the unveiling of its taskforce of communicators tasked to convey the message of sensitization of Coronavirus to the various communities in and around Monrovia; would they (opposition and other group) have been left alone as was done in the case mentioned wherein top government officials graced the occasion in total violation of the proclaimed health protocols.
At the same time, District #10 Representative Yekeh Kolubah has ordered the arrest of MCC’s Mayor Jefferson T. Kojee and Crusader for Peace’s head, Ambassador Juli Endee for violating the government’s health protocols for assembling over 730 persons referred to as Coronavirus message communicators to sensitize the people because their action is in gross violation of the social distancing aspect of the sanctioned health protocols.
Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the Alternative National Congress (ANC) Mr. AloysiusToe has sounded an alleged death threat on their political leader and frowned on the interference of the police in the area where the political leader Alexander B. Cummings is being quarantined.
“We cannot entrust the safety and life of our political leader with the police when in fact Cummings is President George M. Weah’s arch-political rival,” he said.
According to Toe, the police moved in the compound where Cumming is being quarantined and ordered that his security (bodyguards) should vacate the premises, something which was resisted, reports the JOY FM Radio Station in Monrovia
The Secretary General noted that ANC will not allow the police to intrude into their leader’s quarantine exercise and the government will be held responsible if anything goes wrong with Mr. Cummings and will not also permit the fate of Matthew Innis of the Central bank to happen to their leader whose alleged murdered was reportedly based on his knowledge about the missing LD16bn which allegedly led to his tragic and questionable death.
But responding to Toe’s assertion, Deputy Police Director for Operations Marvin Sackor said the police’s intervention is bordered on providing safety and protection for Cummings and the greater society and has no political implication because the assigned bodyguards are involved with running a shift system, and as a batch leaves, those who formed part of that team and not tested, could come into contact with people in the community and could infest innocent people through interaction.
Deputy Director Sackor reiterated to the JOY FM news that the police’s paramount concern is to provide security for the safety of Cummings who is in quarantine.
Moreover, Nimba County’s Senator and Pastor Prince Y. Johnson (PYJ) has accused the George M. Weah-led administration of selective implementation of the government’s sanctioned Health Protocols by ordering the closure of three churches while the National Legislature remains open for business, something he views as being imposed on them.
Evangelist Johnson said while it is true that Minister of Health is the chief adviser to the President on health matters, he (Johnson) also called the President on the closure of churches and the President said he did not give any instruction, yet the Health Protocols released by government is saying and doing different thing unlike what the President had told him which makes him (PYJ) to wonder who is speaking the truth.
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