Kalumbi must explain – Venaani

Kalumbi must explain – Venaani JEMIMA BEUKES

Dr. Kalumbi Shangula’s recent trip to Switzerland has raised questions amid a recommendation by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Committee of Ministers of Health that virtual meetings must continue until the Covid-19 situation has been contained in the region.

Shangula justified his travel saying: “This was not a SADC event.”

Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) president McHenry Venaani yesterday demanded that Shangula explain why he travelled to Europe this month during such a dire time.

Venaani said he found it strange that the minister would undertake a physical trip at a critical time like this, instead of using virtual options.

“The minister must explain. Unless it is for diplomatic reasons and he wanted to go and make a presentation on how urgently we need it (vaccines) and he needed to put up a diplomatic face-appearance with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to impress upon them to see how it can be fast-tracked. Namibia is really trailing behind on the Covid-19 vaccines and the government has exponentially failed to roll out the vaccine,” he said.

Venaani added that despite this urgency, Namibians must prioritise Zoom or Skype for meetings as it allows countries to cut down on travel expenses.

“I had meetings with various prominent leaders over Zoom so it is strange that a minister would travel to Switzerland just for a meeting.”

On Monday, Kalumbi called upon Namibians to take extra precautions to prevent becoming infected wherever possible.

“We are still concerned about the upsurge in the number of confirmed cases and more so with people being admitted due to COVID-19 in severe and critical conditions. It is possibly due to the circulating variant, which tends to cause more serious disease than before,” he said.

jemima@namibiansun.com

OUT AND ABOUT: Dr. Kalumbi Shangula. PHOTO: FILE