Covid-19 overshadows bread and butter issues
By Victor Angula |
Ever since the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic (also known as the novel corona virus) worldwide, a lot of time, energy and money have been spent in the efforts to fight the disease.
Covid-19 has in all practicality stolen the show to such an extent that there has never been anything that united the world so much as this novel corona virus has done.
Although the vaccination roll-outs across the world have been skewed, at least governments have come out energetically displaying their desire and commitment to put an end to the pandemic through all means necessary, be it through borrowed money or in whatever way possible (even if it involves suspending human rights laws).
Government officials are constantly in the limelight talking the talk and sometimes they do call for media publicity during moments when they go out to also walk the walk in setting up field hospitals, importing oxygen cylinders, and receiving donated vaccine doses.
In the meantime Covid-19 is violating and ransacking the economy. More and more people have been losing jobs and income as a result of the novel corona virus.
Yet nobody at all talks in any seriousness about this. Hardly anybody at all talks about the bread and butter issues. Food prices have been increasing. But salaries (for those fortunate enough to not be affected by Covid-19) remain the same. More people have to dig into their savings (those who are fortunate enough to have some savings) in order to spend on medication, lost working time and nutritional supplements as a result of the corona virus.
But nobody talks about these things.
Politicians and business people constantly hog the limelight displaying their efforts in fighting Covid-19. But they don’t do the same with the fight against chronic hunger in the community.
So far I have not seen or heard of any prominent person or institution donating food to a soup kitchen in the poor communities. Just a soup kitchen. So far I am not aware of anyone having come out saying that they are working on plans and programmes to avert the hunger catastrophe which will be the aftermath of Covid-19.
I don’t think it makes any sense to spend money and time saving people from Covid-19-related complications, only to let them die of hunger-related complications.
I would rather believe that the most sensible thing to do is to make the fight against Covid-19 to go together with the fight to make people be able to put bread on the table.
The fight against Covid-19 must be fought as much as the fight against hunger.
