Mozambique: Health Minister respects decision of Hélder Martins – AIM

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Mozambique: Health Minister respects decision of Hélder Martins – AIM

5:11 CAT | 22 Feb 2021

File photo: esquerda.net

Mozambican Health Minister Armindo Tiago has said he respects the decision of one of his predecessors, Helder Martins, to resign from the Technical and Scientific Commission set up to advise the government in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, reports Monday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.

Martins was the country’s first Health Minister, in the 1970s, in the government headed by Samora Machel, and is widely recognised as one of Mozambique’s foremost experts on public health matters.

His letter of resignation, sent to President Filipe Nyusi and dated 16 February, was subsequently published in various of the Mozambican media. In it, he protested against the politicisation of the Commission, arguing that it should not by headed by a politician (that is, by Tiago).

Martins said the Commission should answer, not just to the government, but to the country, instead of acting as if it were a clandestine body, isolated from society and from the media.

He also revealed that, at key moments, the government had not taken, or even asked for, advice from the Commission. The worst such case was the government decree of 18 December last year which allowed the re-opening of casinos, bars and stalls selling alcoholic drinks (a decision that was reversed in mid-January, but by then the damage had been done).

Martins declared categorically that the commission would never have recommended the reopening of bars and casinos. This easing of restrictive measures “sent the signal to the public, and particularly to the Mozambican elite, that they should put an end to prevention measures”.

Speaking in Beira, Tiago said he had been aware for some time of Martins’ intention to resign. He had expressed his respect for this decision “and for the vast knowledge he has about the health sector, and the contribution he has made”.

“We always worked from the perspective that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, added the Minister. He hoped that the country would continue to benefit from Martins’ knowledge “and that of all members of this society, to guarantee that our people have access to health”.

“We shall continue to work with all those who are committed to complying with the mission of the Ministry of Health, which is clear – to control diseases. Not just Covid-19, but all the sicknesses that affect our people”, said Tiago.

Tiago’s response to the resignation was measured and courteous – unlike the shower of insults and hatred thrown at Martins by some notorious scribblers on Mozambican social media. The same people who in the recent past had inveighed against the Catholic Bishop of Pemba, Luis Fernando Lisboa, before the Pope transferred him to a Brazilian diocese, and against the recently expelled British journalist Tom Bowker, now turned their vitriolic rage against Helder Martins.

One of them, Julião João Cumbane, made openly racist remarks against Martins (who happens to be white). In a Facebook comment, he described him as “an old, outdated and complexed white man who wanted to shine more than the blacks in their own country”.

This crude insult came from a man who is a university professor and who, in 2019, was appointed chairperson of the National Company of Science and Technology Parks. In the light of his attack on Martins, there have been calls for President Nyusi to sack Cumbane, or at least for Cumbane to apologise.

Source: AIM