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.

1/#COVID19 #Nepal Update

I follow PM Oli on twitter (img 1). Not seeing many tweets from him abt d #pandemic, I went & browsed his timeline.

If you just went by his tweets, you wouldn’t really think/know that d GoN was fighting a #pandemic!

Read thread for evidence. #COVID pic.twitter.com/8zGjiqLgK0
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

2/
January was when d 1st case of d #coronavirus infection outside #China was detected (in #Thailand).#Nepal also recorded our 1st #COVID19 case towards the end of the month.

Nothing from d PM about it that month. Image below is a sample from that month. pic.twitter.com/viAt4cxzvD
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

3/
By d end of Jan., 18 countries report cases.

WHO gives “a risk assessment of very high for China, and high at the global level.” (https://t.co/7eBFowG2th)

PM makes a total of 4 tweets d month of Feb. (see image below). But, not surprisingly, none abt #coronavirus. #Nepal pic.twitter.com/RmVod1c5Gn
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

4/
March 11, WHO, alarmed by “spread & severity” says “#COVID19 can be characterized as a #pandemic.” (https://t.co/7eBFowG2th)

Country goes into #lockdwon on March 21. PM makes just 3 tweets: March 15, March 25, & March 26 (images below). #Nepal #COVID #COVID19 #COVID19Nepal pic.twitter.com/4yWzlgCQW6
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

5/
FYI, when d country went
into #lockdown, we had recorded
just 1 case!

April saw d most number of tweets
from d PM abt or mentioning #COVID19.
D ones below are those made d 1st
week of d month.#Nepal #COVID #COVID19Nepal pic.twitter.com/mzMWdw56ub
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

6/
In d 2nd 2-tweet thread (img 2),
PM Oli, justifying d extension
of #lockdown, concedes:
“… समस्या अझै यथावत छ र थप
सावधानी अपनाइएन भने अझ भयावह
बन्न सक्ने खतरा पनि छँदैछ ।”

D one on 12th (img 4) he calls on ppl
to play d National Anthem! #Nepal #COVId #COVId19 #COVID19Nepal pic.twitter.com/0zY6982pMa
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

7/
These tweets made in d 2nd half
of April are mostly about those who
recovered from #COVID19 (imgs 1,2, & 4).

D other one (img 3) is about getting
medical supplies from #TAR of #China &#India. #Nepal #COVID19Nepal #COVID pic.twitter.com/1Ut6RpJNlS
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

8/
April 30, makes tweets 2 versions of d same tweet abt a conversation w/ d President of #Israel. Says he “exchanged views on fighting #Covid19…”.

Over four dozen countries have reported community level transmission! (src: https://t.co/JUwFfMgLG5)#Nepal #COVID19Nepal pic.twitter.com/7psUmtTyXT
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

9/
After d April flurry (😁), Oli makes just 4 tweets in May.

Img 1: solidarity lamp “against #Coronavirus“!
Img 4: condolence over death of a woman.

May 30: Abt 7 dozen countries report community level transmission (src: https://t.co/NBo1aP6O5m.)#Nepal #COVD19 #COVID19Nepal pic.twitter.com/0RiK58b7e9
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

10/
After d flurry of April & trickle of May, here are d drops of June!! 😁

Img 1 reports on discussion abt #COVID! Img 2 reports on a diplomatic contact he’d made.

June 30: 86 countries reported community transmission. (src: https://t.co/YMu9DuwUTb.) #Nepal #covid19nepal pic.twitter.com/lZYgnPntZe
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

11/
We had d April flurry, followed by d May trickle, & then d June drops. Then followed a complete drought in July!

Oli made just 6 tweets d whole month BUT none abt #COVID19!

Worldwide: 94 countries reported community transmission. (src: https://t.co/BsRGYpLCvg) #Nepal #COVID pic.twitter.com/H8a7UVMmZI
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

12/
Aug. is back to drops…a drop actually.

13 tweets & just 1 abt #covid!

Country was progressing through a 2nd wave beginning on 28th of July.

Worldwide: 106 report community transmission. #Nepal‘s transmission classification: clusters. (src: https://t.co/acNkghLo7i) #Nepal pic.twitter.com/uEWyFpgIsk
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

13/
Sept. & Oct. were two more droughts! Tweeted 7 & 5 respectively but NONE about #covid!

See table for how d #pandemic had progressed!#Nepal‘s transmission classification is still “Clusters of cases.” (src: https://t.co/IkMuttEZB7)#COVID19 #COVId19Nepal #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/VJ2WFSvUFy
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

14/
Today is Nov 7. H’s made just 3 tweets but NONE abt #COVID (see imgs).

Interestingly, 2 of 3 are condolences–YES CONDOLENCES! BUT not to families of d 1000+ casualties of #COVID19!

PM’s office also has a twitter account (@PM_Nepal). It’s NO different! #Nepal #COVID19Nepal pic.twitter.com/9bGN64xRSp
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

15/
The last tweet made by d twitter handle belonging to d PM’s Office was October 14 (see image below), almost a MONTH ago.

Additionally, d handle, created in June 2015–over 5 YRS AGO–has 639K followers. But they have made JUST 247 tweets!#Nepal #COVID #COVID19 #COVID19Nepal pic.twitter.com/vP4Hzo8WTY
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

16/16
What does all that show?

PM Oli & his office (his advisors etc.)

1. place little importance on social media (like Twitter),
2. value little communicating w/ population via them, &
3. are disconnected from/clueless or care abt d younger generations!#Nepal #COVId19 #COVId
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

Correction:

“…or care abt…”

should read

“…or care little abt…”.
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 7, 2020

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

Looks like PM’s Twitter handle is not even handled by the PM or is handled by at least one of his advisors in addition to him.

And yet there’s such a dearth of tweets updates about #COVID19 #pandemic. #Nepal https://t.co/pv5rEefoqh
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) November 10, 2020

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!

In the topsy-turvy world of #Nepal!!

Only in the topsy-turvy world of Nepal!

In the totally dysfunctional family business of the pretend country, failed State of Nepal! https://t.co/Qj5mLlWvkY
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) July 16, 2021

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.”

What PM Oli REALLY meant when he said situation was “under control” on CNN can best be summed up in d military language (slang) as

SNAFU!

(Situation Normal: All F*cked Up)

(I don’t claim to know Oli’s military background, however!)#Nepal #COVID #COVID19 #COVIDSecondWaveNepal pic.twitter.com/sgSTnIjObZ
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) May 8, 2021

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!

COVID19 nepal daily tests detection rate April May 2021

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

COVID19 nepal Positivity rate April May 2021

Fatality rates and daily fatalities were on the rise!

COVID19 nepal CFR daily deaths April May 2021

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

#COVID #Nepal Update

As limited as our data is….
How long has it been since seeing requests on social media or on WhatsApp/Viber for leads to ICU beds &/or ventilator in Kathmandu Valley?

Here’s their status for d duration MoHP has shared d data publicly.
cc. @Bish_Bhandari pic.twitter.com/WHm923pmmF
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) May 24, 2021

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.

Something
that’s been clear
for a long time but
dramatically reaffirmed in
these times of d #coronavirus #pandemic: D arrogance & ignorance
of old Nepali MEN in positions of
power & influence know next to
no bounds. #Nepal #COVID_19 #Lockdown #lockdownnepal #COVID #covid19nepal
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) April 18, 2020

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.

1/n#COVID19 #Nepal Update…about fatalities…

That MoHP was under-reporting fatalities
last year was an open secret! MoHP
corrected d figures by reporting
619 & 233 “deaths” on Feb. 24 & March 3
respectively!

They are likely under-reporting now too! #COVIDSecondWaveNepal pic.twitter.com/7G04rrMtAd
— Dorje Gurung, ScD (h.c.) (@Dorje_sDooing) May 10, 2021

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 fifth stint 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.)