Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Ethiopian microbiologist who is the head of the World Health Organisation, WHO, is simultaneously going through what can be described as the two greatest battles of his life. He is leading the battle against the dreadful coronavirus that is ripping humanity apart, and also an unavoidable bickering from the United States of America, the world’s unipolar power to see him out of the leadership office.
There has been numerous conspiracies brewing up from some legislative quarters in the U.S to see Tedros relieved of his appointment as the head of the W.H.O.
This clamoring decision rolls out from the allegation leveled against Tedros for collaborating with China to under-report the virus outbreak late last year, 2009.
Without providing any proof, one of the U.S legislators said: “The WHO needs to stop covering for them. I think Dr. Tedros needs to step down. We need to take some action to address this issue. It’s just irresponsible, it’s unconscionable what they have done here while we have people dying across the globe.” Senator Rick Scott who also demanded Tedros steps down, called for a congressional probe into the claimed China-WHO cover up.
Tedros who has a Doctorate of Philosophy, Ph.D, in Community Health from the University of Nottingham and a Masters in Immunology of Infectious Diseases from the University of London, believes such milestone qualifications of his and having served in the ministerial cabinet as Ethiopian Health and Foreign Minister, qualified him enough to boss the W.H.O.
The allegations pitched at Tedros are as weird as the claims that the coronavirus is caused by the technological development of the 5G network. First, there are some claims that the Ethiopian administration which he served in operates a dictatorship form of government, which is a natural quest for him to be in support of another dictator governance as it is attributed to China.
Secondly, the Ethiopian government was accused of covering up a cholera outbreak as at the time Tedros was carrying the portfolio of the country’s health minister, and it is apparent that being in his nature to cover things up from the public domain, might be contributing to his hiding of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan, China.
Thirdly, that China assisted Ethiopia to build a major infrastructure, such as the Addis Ababa-Djibouti international train, so that this was Ethiopia payback time. The American and Taiwanese governments thereby believes Tedros is a Chinese spy.
Tedros said in his statement that he took the attacks on him in his stride including death threats, but what he would not accept are the racists insults that portray Blacks as inferior beings incapable of running a high office like the W.H.O.
It is a proven fact that all humans moved from Africa, and that it is at the core of human civilization. Yet today, Africa is at the lower arm of human development and obviously none to reckon with at the upper arm of human leadership. This is undoubtably the rationale behind the Africa continent not having a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council, even after an average of 60 years of independence.
By the virtue of fate or recognition, an African gets to spearhead a major organization or parastatal, as evident as Tedros to W.H.O.
Not pegging the high-rated bigotry there only, such African might just be a rubber stamp leader not having all the prerogative accrued to his office to initiate and execute decisions on his own without being subjected to a third eye. They believe Africans cannot make a brilliant output without being guided.
Often times, the powerful tends to destroy the entirety of the body or institution when they see such Africans as indomitable. W.H.O has been given a stern warning severally to rid off the “bloody African” leading them if they still want America to continue being the financier of the health body.
It is very apparent that these words are racially demeaning. This same tune toning out for Tedros is in an apposite similitude to the Senegalese, Amadou-Mahtar M’Bow, a former Minister of Education and Culture, and who was then appointed in 1974 as the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO.
The body was established on November 16, 1945 in London, and saddled with the responsibility of promoting international partnership in education, the sciences, and culture, and leading the quest for universal justice, rule of law, and human rights. M’Bow then would not dance to the tune played by the American piper. Hence, the Reagan administration on December 31,1984, withdrew America from UNESCO, accusing it and M’Bow of being pro-Soviet, anti-Israel, and anti-capitalist.
America poised its comeback to the body on October 1, 2003, but defaults its dues summing up to over $500 million before pulling out again on December 31, 2018. The League of Nations which in 1945, was transformed into the United Nations, UN, was founded on January 10, 1920. In its first 79 years, no African was close to being its head, not until 1991 when Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt, was elected its Secretary-General.
Ghali was a man of peace, but his tenure was attributed to with four bloody wars: the old Yugoslavia War which broke that state into seven new countries; the ripples of the 1991 Gulf War; the fractious war in Somalia, and the genocide in which 850,000 Rwandans were massacred. Ghali was quite bitter about the Rwanda genocide.
He believed that if the big gun countries like America and France which had control over UN peacekeeping troops and logistics had agreed with his leadership, the massacres would have been forestalled.
He also opposed the NATO bombing in Bosnia. For all these, and his refusal to be turned to a puppet, the US forced his removal from the office, even when he had massive support from member countries. Instead, fellow African, Kofi Annan who was his Head of Peacekeeping Operations during the failed mission in Somalia and the Rwandan genocide, was elected to replace him. Annan was considered a timid person and was rewarded with a second term.
Sequel to these, It is very unlikely that Tedros would want to play Kofi Annan card to keep his leadership seat, or probably brace up like Ghali and M’Bow to stand firm on his principles and legacy. It is crystal clear that the W.H.O is very important to be downturned by an obsessive country led by a narcissist with the mind of a lay man who will seek to control and earn the glory for the cure or vaccine for coronavirus, instead of making sure their is equity of distraction across all countries.
In spite of the numerous attacks on him, Tedros, whose surname, Ghebreyesus, means ‘Servant of Jesus’ knows he must not be distracted as his leadership has the potentials of saving many lives across the world. The racist attacks on him would not make Tedros have a sense of inferiority.
