Equatorial Guinea has joined its Burundian counterpart in sacking the representative of the World Health Organization, accusing her of “falsifying” the country’s tally of coronavirus cases, a government statement said.
In a document dated May 26, the foreign ministry asked the World Health Organization’s regional office in Africa “to end the duties” of its representative in Equatorial Guinea, Dr. Triphonie Nkurunziza, “and immediately oversee her departure from Malabo.”
Prime Minister Pascual Obama Asue while appearing at the Senate last week had accused Nkurunziza of “falsifying the data of people contaminated” by COVID-19, AN AFP report said.
“We don’t have a problem with the WHO, we have a problem with the WHO’s representative in Malabo,” he said in remarks broadcast on state television.
A source at the UN office in Malabo, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the government’s request but declined to go into details.
“The government has asked her to go, we have received a document — she is accused of falsifying COVID-19 figures,” the source said.
However, Dr. Nkurunziza is still in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s island capital, as there are no flights enabling her to leave, the source said.
The authorities say that as of June 1, there were 1,306 recorded cases of coronavirus, 12 of them fatalities, in a population of 1.3 million
Meanwhile, Burundi in mid-May 2020 sacked the World Health Organization’s top official in the country just days before the May 22 presidential election and after the WHO raised concerns about crowded political rallies.
Equatorial Guinea accuses WHO of inflating Covid-19 tally, sacks country representative
