EDUCATE CARELESS SOULS

THE carefree attitude by some citizens in the face of the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic in many parts of the country is worrying and calls for a paradigm shift in the way awareness programmes are being crafted.

Officials from the Ministry of Health and others in the multi-sectoral teams need back up enforced by regulation which should make certain measures mandatory.

As it stands now, certain preventive measures such as wearing of masks and social distancing are being ignored with impunity, hence the imperative need to make critical measures mandatory by law.

Thus Government should pass a law even through a Statutory Instrument to make it mandatory for all citizens to wear masks in public places.

Some people have been moving around with masks in their pockets while women shove them in their handbags and only pull them over their faces when getting into banks and supermarkets that are strict on protective wear.

Others have exhibited ignorance dangerously by insisting that the pandemic does not exist and this is the portion of a population that requires intense awareness about the pandemic.

During outbreak of cholera, most Zambians flick upon seeing a patient and statistics about the cases, but play ignorance about the Covid-19, which is equally a killer disease.

Invariably, people pay attention to cholera awareness programmes than they do to Covid-19 initiatives because it is a new disease.

With deaths standing at 120 and 1, 398 active cases, Zambia is certainly in a precarious position which requires enhanced enforcement of preventive measures backed by law; sanctions must be imposed on individuals abrogating regulations.

The lackadaisical attitude in this country towards Covid-19 will only be addressed through regulations which prescribe sanctions.

It is inconceivable that with rising numbers of infections and deaths, people can still go binging in night clubs carelessly as was the case in Solwezi where law enforcement officers rounded up 52 patrons including 24 women in the dead of the night.

Naturally, one would have thought that careless behavioural patterns should have ended in March when the first case was reported in the country.

It is sad that adults are risking their lives and putting their families and communities at risk of contracting the disease.

They are fully aware of the consequences of their careless conduct and have been following statistics of how the Covid-19 is unfolding in the country.

It is in fact very clear to all including the careless souls that Covid-19 pandemic has exerted tremendous strain on the country’s economy to the extent that a number of companies have closed, sending workers out of employment.

The very people that are going against preventive measures have seen the negative impact including the closure of schools which has affected their own children.

Therefore, all law-abiding citizens must join in the fight against this pandemic and where possible effect citizens’ arrest on people getting into bars which are operating illegally.

They should also report bar owners that are operating clandestinely. Markets, bus stations and other public places need policing not only by members of the multi-sectoral teams but also by ordinary citizens.

Thus citizens must raise alarm whenever they spot passengers on buses without masks on their faces or better still take note of the registration numbers of such public vehicles.

Citizens must come together and fight this pandemic which is claiming lives of productive citizens.