by Tofarati Ige
So I just heard that the Liberian government is set to prosecute Eric Duncan, their citizen who ‘exported’ the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) to USA.
According to Binyah Kesselly, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Liberia Airport Authority, Eric will be prosecuted for lying that he hadn’t been in contact with an Ebola victim, and also for taking the scourge to the USA.
Binyah said, “We wish him a speedy recovery; we await his arrival in Liberia to face prosecution,” he quipped.
How ridiculously laughable.
Duncan, who is said to be in a serious condition in a Dallas hospital, is accused of lying to health officials when he filled a questionnaire before leaving the country last month saying that none of his relatives were sick. But investigations by the health ministry showed he had an Ebola infected relative whom he had taken to a hospital on a wheelbarrow but was turned back from the hospital after being told they lacked bed space for his ill relative.
However, the last time I checked, Patrick Sawyer, also lied about being in recent contact with an Ebola victim before flying down to Nigeria for an ECOWAS conference.
Even though his sister had only recently died of Ebola, and he was also showing signs of sickness, the Liberian deputy Finance Minister, Sebastian Omar, who approved Sawyer’s trip defended his action, claiming he was not a doctor. He said, “As his superior, if a man tells you his sister died from Ebola and he could have been exposed; do you not think it is your duty to ask the hard questions or maybe you could have reported this to the health officials?”
Responding to a Facebook friend who accused him of allowing Sawyer to travel without thorough checks, Omar said caustically, “You will be talking by yourself as I see you don’t know what you are talking about and as a matter of finding solution you do not have any but trying to find blame. Someone must have frustrated the hell out of you in Liberia O…. Take me to the international court since I am guilty of approving a travel…”
Now, the above response seems miles apart from the reaction to Duncan’s ‘treason’ of daring to take Ebola to America.
My question is this, “Why didn’t the Liberian government deem it fit to launch an investigation into the lapses that allowed Sawyer to travel to Nigeria while posing such a grievous threat? Is it because Nigeria doesn’t matter in their scheme of things, and as such, they care less?”
The same reaction of shock and anger should also have been the case when the Liberian government inadvertently brought Ebola to Nigeria.
Or is there any truth to the conspiracy theory flying around that Sawyer was only a biological terrorist acting out the script of evil paymasters?
Africa CAN NEVER move out of the doldrums we currently find ourselves in if we continue to exhibit double standards when it comes to issues affecting our people, and that of foreigners.
If Eric Duncan is prosecuted, then Patrick Sawyer, or his estate, MUST also be brought to book, because they committed the same CRIME
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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.
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