“And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, ‘A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family’”(Matthew 13:57).
The above expression is true of the Madagascar novel COVID-Organics (medicinal plants), as a proven effective remedy for the novel corona virus pandemic.
The reason why Madagascar’s situation is put side by side the sad rejection of Jesus by His own people, is the fact that besides Western nations’ slowness in accepting the authenticity of Madagascar’s medicinal plants, African leaders led by World Health Organisation’s (WHO) President, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is an African from Ethiopia, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and leaders of African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC), have equally placed doubt on the authenticity of the medicinal plants.
The novel global corona virus, which was first reported in early December, 2019 in Wuhan, the Hubei province of China, has till date left the world in a serious puzzle, due to its rapid spread and deadly nature. As at the time of writing this article (May 22nd), the deadly virus has affected 188 countries in all the continents of the world; infecting 5.1million people, and killing 333,000 people, with 2million people recovered so far (cf. John Hopkins University and Aljazeera TV).
With the rapid spread of the deadly virus, the world may have automatically plunged into a global recession, maybe the worst since 2008 great recession. Consequently, science institutes, and research centres, including individual scientists of various countries of the world have entered into the race to either develop a vaccine or probably find a lasting medicinal cure for the deadly unseen enemy of humanity.
It is important to note at this point that before the virus found its way into Africa, many predicted doom for Africa, considering the underdeveloped nature of most parts of Africa, as a result of failed leaderships.
But to the shock of the whole world, “Can anything good come from Africa, let alone Madagascar?” Madagascar one of the least developed countries of the world, according to United Nations (UN) report, broke the jinx that has remained a big puzzle, not only to other African nations, but to the so called first world nations.
On April 21st, the 46yrs old, ‘Ubuntu’ president, Andry Nirina Rajoelina of Madagascar, officially launched the discovered herbal medicine, effective enough to combat the deadly virus. He said at the time, “Tests have been carried out. Two people have been cured by the treatment. This herbal tea gives results in seven days. I will be the first to drink it today, in front of you, to show you that this product cures and does not kill.” The President made this statement in the presence of his ministers, diplomats, journalists, and the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research (IMRA).
However, when the news of the herbal cure entered the public domain, WHO, led by its president, instead of discussing ways and possible cooperation with Madagascar’s IMRA to authenticate the claim, and best of all make it available to the rest of the world, acted indifferent to the discovery made by the so called little Madagascar of Southern Africa, by calling on the world to tread with caution as to Madagascar’s claim.
On May 6th, in a press statement released by ECOWAS Commission, the group, instead of pledging support to Madagascar’s IMRA, dissociated itself from the claim that it had ordered a package of the COVID-Organics (CVO) from Madagascar. The statement read in part, “We wish to dissociate ECOWAS and its health institution, West Africa Health Organisation (WAHO) from the claim and inform the general public that we have not ordered the CVO medicine.”
Also in support of WHO in rejecting COVID-Organics was the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the said group, “Adopting a product that has not been taken through tests to see its efficacy calls for a rigorous testing” (cf. “ECOWAS refute alleged endorsement of CVO medication,”).
However, to their utter disappointment, the medicinal plant has proven very effective, with Madagascar recording only one case of death, since the unveiling and use of the herbal medicine. The news of the death of the said victim spread so fast like wildfire, as if no one ever recovered since the discovery and application of the medicinal plants.
Painfully, besides Guinea Bissau, Senegal, and Tanzania that celebrated the breakthrough from Madagascar, a host of other African countries received the news of the breakthrough with indifference, insisting that the medicinal plants must be subjected to their local verifications before it will be used on any of their patients.
Nevertheless, taking to his twitter handle on May 20th, President Rajoelina announced that Madagascar will be signing a confidentiality clause with WHO on the medicinal plant. In his post, “Successful exchange with Tedros who commends Madagascar’s efforts in the fight against COVID-19.”
But if it were Europe, America or China that discovered such a cure, would there have been a call for it to go through some rigorous testing, before acceptance by those Africa nations and WHO? Would there be any signing of confidentiality clause? Has WHO forgotten so soon that there was medicinal plants first, before today’s chemicals called medicines, which sometimes have adverse effects on the human body? These are questions begging for answers.
Yet, in a particular African country that unceremoniously received the herbal medicine, the lawmakers are pushing for a health bill that would lead to a compulsory vaccination of everyone, even when they do not know the authenticity of the said vaccine, just because the vaccine may be coming from the West. I hope the supposed vaccine too will be subjected to local verification before application, if eventually their undisclosed wish comes through?
It is now exactly a month since the unveiling of Madagascar’s medicinal plants which was denied by WHO, ECOWAS, and ACDC. However, some scientists from Peking University in China have come up with a claim that they have discovered a new drug that can possibly stop the pandemic “without a vaccine” (cf Jakarta Post, May 19th, 2020). The same scientific process that was suggested by a Nigerian scientist, but was coldly ignored.
Now that China is on the news again, we are waiting to see the reactions of WHO, ECOWAS, and ACDC who dance to the drumbeat of their drummer.
The indifference exhibited so far by most African countries towards Madagascar’s herbal cure, is a proof that truly a prophet is not regarded among his own people.
African leaders must wake up from their slave mentality, puppet mindset, and inferiority complex, so as to liberate Africa from the shackles of backwardness, which they created for their selfish interests. And unless African leaders get rid of envy, jealousy, selfcenteredness, and appreciate, support, and see themselves as equal to the white folks, Africa as a continent can never get it right.
© Rev Fr Israel ANAWEOKHAI, MSP
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