By Kemo Cham
The Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Dr David Sengeh, has urged Sierra Leoneans to emulate his family and put their fate in the government’s Covid-19 response system.
Dr Sengeh made the call as he revealed that he and his family had gone into self-isolation after his wife tested positive for the virus. It followed confirmation of a positive test result for his 70-year father, Paul Sengeh, whom the family had visited in hospital.
Paul was said to be responding to treatment at the 34 Military Hospital.
The Sengeh family’s ordeal began with the eldest son of Paul, who tested positive for COVID-19 a couple of weeks ago, according to David, who made the revelation via a post on his LinkedIn account over the weekend.
The ensuing chain of infections led to three members of the extended family testing positive.
The Education Minister said as a result, all those who came in contact with those who tested positive have undergone testing, themselves, and that the entire family has been subjected to quarantine.
“I trust the system and that's why all of my family members who are primary contacts have been tested. I trust the system that's why three of my family members who have tested positive have used the system. I trust the system because while I know it has challenges, the people there are excellent and dedicated to their work. I see young doctors, nurses, surveillance officers and others committed to fighting this crisis,” the Minister noted in the post made on Saturday.
Dr Sengeh said his wife, who is “fully asymptomatic”, is in isolation with him, along with the rest of their household.
Sengeh serves on the Presidential Taskforce for COVID-19, through which he provides leadership to the ICT and Data Pillar of the national COVID-19 response team.
He said that taking a test for covid-19 is important for people to save their loved ones.
The Education Minister also warned against politicization of the Covid-19 fight. He noted that as a member of the government, he was aware that critics could brand him as partisan and therefore not be inclined to listen to his advice. But he urged such people to consider the impact of COVID-19 locally and on the rest of the world, which transcended political party colors.
“As a member of the response team at several levels in Sierra Leone, I have full trust in our leadership, our healthcare system and in our response. Yes, there are tremendous lapses. Yes, communication can be more transparent. Yes, civil society can be called on more as partners. And in the same breath I observe that this is an emergency - we all have to remove the bureaucracy and not wait for that invitation letter,” he said.
Dr Sengeh also warned that the rest of the world must brace up for a new world order post-Covid-19, which he said called for a new kind of governance and citizen engagement “driven by a commitment to shared ethos and values; accelerated by technology and digitization; and optimized for our poorest, systematically excluded and most marginalized.”
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