The pedestal was never high enough for you, was it? You swaggered on stage and addressed the nation every day for two months convincing many that under your watch, we would be protected from the unmitigated calamity of COVID-19. You claimed that without your immediate intervention up to eighty thousand could perish.
You told us ad nauseam that your job was to save lives. Yes, your self proclaimed heroism was established and every day lives were spared because of you.
Except for those who lived in rest homes. What does PPE stand for? Why was PPE necessary for those working in rest homes? Tough questions for the leader who had our backs and her finger on every pulse. The excuses, and quite frankly, the BS that covered up this fundamental failing should have set alarm bells ringing, and it did. But you our heroine, had the stage, the media and the gullible convinced that you could do no wrong.
Almost all the COVID-19 deaths occurred because of the lack of this one simple requirement. Almost everyone except you and your sidekicks knew that this demographic was the most vulnerable and seriously at risk. You failed them.
There were multiple incidents of incompetence throughout this period. It was obvious those in charge were clambering to have events match your rhetoric. The dishonesty slowly unravelled but your smile, your reassurances and your “be kind” profile was an effective camouflage that kept the doubters at bay. But you can only fake it until you make it for so long, and now the chickens are coming home to roost.
The last few days have exposed what an absolute shambles quarantine has become. How hard can it be to have a system of “top down” scrutiny implemented? Your lack of leadership is appalling.
You love being the “Captain”. Captains are the last to leave a sinking ship but it appears you were the first to abandon the ship. New Zealand was never at severe risk of multiple deaths. Your blundering border control was responsible for the virus spreading through the country in the first place. If you had moved as fast as all other South Pacific leaders, then the result would have been different. Perhaps even zero cases, and this would have allowed the economy to continue unhindered with the exception of tourism.
You got it all wrong. You played the drama queen, you acted the heroine, but now the curtain has come down. Now you have to wait for the reviews. Playtime is over. It is time for all of us to “wash our hands” of you.
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