Oli-garchy…In the Times of the Coronavirus Pandemic

READING TIME: 8 minutes

Prime Minister Oli failed to tackle meaningfully the BIGGEST challenge his administration faced–the coronavirus pandemic. I would go as far to even declare that he and his administration did NOT even do the bare minimum! There is no shortage of evidence which show that–and many paid dearly…with their lives.

One of the evidences is in the way PM Oli used his personal Twitter handle. Nothing he–or those who handle his twitter handle–tweeted over the course of the first ten months of the pandemic in the country indicates, firstly, that the country was EVEN suffering from a pandemic, and, secondly, that they actually cared.

I know because I tweeted a whole thread about it in November 2020, which is what I am reproducing below. Interestingly enough, the last time Oli or his PR manager had tweeted had been on Ocotber 14, which the official Prime Minister’s handle, @PM_Nepal, also retweeted the same day.

Here’s the thread to begin with.

Here’s evidence to suggest that at least one of this advisors might have access to PM Oli’s personal twitter account.

Here’s a reproduction of the image shared in the tweet above! The advisor (on the right in the photo) tweets in the first person through the Prime Minister’s personal account. Clearly, he had made the mistake of just reproducing what he had tweeted from his own personal account!!

Returning to the @PM_Nepal handle, there’s an update. The Oli administration refused to handover the password details for the VERIFIED account. The incoming administration, PM Deuba’s, had to create a new account alleges the article below!

So, after months of not doing much about the pandemic throughout both the first and the second wave, even going as far as to not even acknowledge many of the basic facts about the virus, forget disseminate information, PM Oli gets busy lying, again–but this time on live TV, on CNN, on May 8–saying how the pandemic is “under control.”

That however was totally in character: that was yet another in a series of disinformation he has peddled throught the pandemic. Of course, the pandemic was far from “under control.”

At about that time, the second wave was peaking and had basically brought the country and its health care system to it knees. Have a look at the following charts.

The following chart shows daily tests and detection rates. Detection rate was peaking at that time!

What about the positivity rate? At the time, the positivity rates were also peaking (see chart below)!!

Fatality rates and daily fatalities were on the rise!

And finally, the rate of hospitalizine was also on the rise. The following tweet shows data for Kathmandu Valley.

In other words, the pandemic was raging!

What was even more farcical and painfullly embarrassing about PM Oli declaring–on May 8–that the pandemic was “under control” in Nepal, in spite of all the data indicating to the contrary, was that just two days–TWO DAYS–later, he penned an article in The Guardian. In it he did a complete 180-degree turn–he admitted that the second wave was devastating the country and needed urgent help! In other words, at pretty much the same time he was declaring the pandemic as being “under control,” someone in his team was drafting the article saying the exact opposite!

After his administration had NO strategy at all–whether at the beginning of the pandemic or any time since–what PM Oli did over the course of just two days in early May, to me, epitomized Oli’s attitude towards the pandemic and lack of conern for the lives of the people of the country. Forget strategy, Oli-garchy was all about conducting the affairs of the country, leading the country during an unprecedented pandemic, even as THE Executive through arrogance and ignorance, more than anything.

Oli-garchy initiated the fight against the pandemic by completely botching the procurement of essential medical supplies–involving a lot of corruption–for instance. Instead of a strategy backed by science, we got corruption throughout. (See references at the bottom for more.)

Another hallmark of Oli-garchy was “massaging” the data. Starting from playing mental acrobatics to discount the first several COVID-19 fatalities, all through the first wave in 2020, Oli’s administration, for example, under-reported fatalities. They numbers were corrected in Februrary and March 2021, something I go into the details of in the twitter thread below.

Hiding or under-reporting fatalities didn’t end in March 2021–it continued during the second wave too!

Worse still, from the beginning of April, Oli’s adminsitration has been “disappearing” Antigen-positive cases. In other words, we have NO account of what happens to them…still! Right now, that’s about 50K cases!!

But, of course, even after all that, Nepal being Nepal and Nepalis being Nepalis, such an utter failure will not mark the end of his career. Far from it. He’ll be back for a third stint as PM and possibly even fourth and fift etc. I am sure…if the Nepali people have their way. 😉 😉

When it comes to providing opportuntities for failed politicians, the Nepali people have–and get–their way. After all, we have just plopped Sher Bahadur Deuba in the Prime Minister’s seat for the fifth time in just the young 30-year history of the Federal Republic Kingdom of Nepal! 🙂 🙂

What do you think?

(If you are interested in more blogs about the pandemic–tracking it’s progress and how utterly Oli-garchy has failed– click here.)

Reference

HamraKura (March 28, 2020). कोरोनाका नाममा नीतिगत भ्रष्टाचारः डेढ अर्बको मेडिकल सामग्री खरिदमा करोडौं घोटालाको तयारी

NepaliLive (March 28, 2020). कोरोनाको कहरमा पनि कमिसन चक्कर

HamraKura (March 28, 2020). कोरोनाका नाममा नीतिगत भ्रष्टाचारः डेढ अर्बको मेडिकल सामग्री खरिदमा करोडौं घोटालाको तयारी

ReporterNepal (March 30, 2020). महामारीमा आधा अर्ब कमिशनका योजनाकार

NayaPatrika (March 30, 2020). एक अर्ब २४ करोडको खरिदमा भ्रष्टाचारको इतिवृत्तान्त : माघमा खुलेको टेन्डर चैतमा रद्द, लकडाउन  गरेर तीन घन्टाभित्रै विनाप्रतिस्पर्धा ठेक्का

SetoPati (March 31, 2020). विश्व स्वास्थ्य संगठनले सिफारिस नगरेका र्‍यापिड टेस्टिङ किट किनेपछि सरकारको चौतर्फी आलोचना

NepaliLive (March 31, 2020). स्वास्थ्यले ७ करोडमा किनेको कोरोना परीक्षण किट कामै नलाग्ने

RatoPati (March 31, 2020). कसैले टेण्डर हालेनन् भनेर मन्त्रालयले किन झुट बोल्यो ?

KathmanduPress (March 31, 2020). ओम्नीलाई ठेक्का दिन नमान्ने उपसचिवलाई कारवाहीको पत्र थमाइयो

Swasthyakhabar (April 1, 2020). स्वास्थ्य सामाग्री खरिदको अर्को प्रक्रिया भोली फेरि सुरु हुने

Kantipur (April 3, 2020). कोरोनासँग जुध्‍न खोज्दा भ्रष्टाचारका फेला !

Kantipur (April 3, 2020). ओम्‍नी, तुलहरि र युवराज शर्माको बालुवाटार सम्बन्ध

NayaPatrika (April 4, 2020). ओम्नी अर्थात् यतीजस्तै सरकारको संरक्षण प्राप्त अर्को समूह

MyRepublica (April 7, 2020). Payment gateway bought for Rs 250 million dumped to promote eSewa.

Kantipur (April 13, 2020). ओम्‍नीबाट टेन्डरबाहेकको किट खरिद

NayaPatrika (May 2, 2020). महामारीका वेला प्रहरीलाई मास्क छैन, हतियार किन्ने तयारी

NayaPatrika (June 1, 2020). राष्ट्रपति कार्यालयमा एक करोडको गलैँचा फेरिँदै

The Record (Aug. 23, 2020). How govt officials are looting the Covid coffers.

Army’s Involvment

My Republica (March 30, 2020). Senior army officials including a major general face action for financial irregularities.

The Kathmandu Post (April 3, 2020). Amid the outbreak.

KathmanduPress (April 3, 2020). मेडिकल सामग्री खरिदको जिम्मा सेनालाई दिनु ‘भाइरस मार्न बन्दुक र गोली हान्नु’ जस्तो

Naya Patrika (April 6, 2020). स्वास्थ्य सामग्री  खरिदको तयारी गर्दै सेना

SetoPati (April 9, 2020). अख्तियारको छानबिन छल्न सेनालाई स्वास्थ्य सामग्रीको जिम्मा: पूर्वप्रधानसेनापति जबरा

Kantipur (May 4, 2020). अझै आइपुगेन सेनाले ल्याउने स्वास्थ्य सामग्री

Nagarik (June 8, 2020). स्वास्थ्यले १५ रुपैयाँमा किनेको मास्कलाई सेनाले ५२ हाल्यो

NepalLive (June 9, 2020). सेनाले जिटुजीमार्फत् किनेका मेडिकल सामग्रीमा एक अर्बभन्दा बढी घोटाला! कुन सामानमा कति?

NepalLive (June 17, 2020). रक्षामन्त्रीको स्वार्थले बदनाम भएको भन्दै मेडिकल सामग्री खरिदबाट बाहिरियो सेना, यी हुन् सवा २ अर्बका सामग्री

The Kathmandu Post (June 22, 2020). PCR test kits procured by Nepal Army incompatible with most Nepali laboratories.

The Record (June 23, 2020). Anti-corruption bill allows legal immunity to continue for Army, judges.

(Visited 103 times, 1 visits today)

Facebook Comments (see farther below for other comments)

comments

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Don't leave me hanging...say something....