
President Danilo Medina spoke to the country on Friday, 17 April 2020 and stressed that his administration would not lower its guard in its fight against the coronavirus. This is the third time the Pesident addresses the nation after the first case of coronavirus was reported in the country on 1 March 2020. In the speech, Medina announced the government would enforce the mandate that all people use a facial mask of any kind when out.
The President also referred to irregularities in government procurement under special emergency state conditions. In the past two weeks, business people and especially politicians representing the Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) have presented evidence of serious irregularities in government procurement operations.
The President responded to the claims. “You can be sure that, not even in these times of emergency, have we permitted nor will be permit shortcuts that circumvent the principles of competition, advertising and transparency that are clearly indicated in public procurement laws. Today it is more important than ever that each peso be spent efficiently and transparently. Because of that, and as has been demonstrated, if in any area of the administration there is a bad practice, there will be rapid and strict consequences, according to the law,” he stated.
Medina said furthermore that these are not times for politicians to score points. The leading opposition party, PRM has been openly presenting evidence of major irregularities.
During the speech, President Medina expressed gratitude to the thousands of frontline workers, especially to those who are entrusted with saving lives. He also dedicated considerable time to highlighting the greater dimensions of the health crisis abroad and the plight of Dominicans abroad in the hotspots of New York, Spain and Italy.
Medina affirmed that the Dominican Republic was approaching a “leveling-off” period of the epidemic, but he stressed that the regulations now in place needed to be extended until 30 April, “at least”. He left open the possibility of a further continuation of the call to stay home and for non-essential businesses and industries to remain closed.
He said the government’s actions are targeted at slowing down the virus’s spread to be able to care for those that are infected. The President remarked that actions taken over the past few weeks have been fruitful.
The President rattled off numbers of masks being received by the government, although he did not cite the sources. On hand were 1.25 million masks and another three million were on the way. Over the weekend, some 100,000 PPEs (Personal Protection Equipment) were to be received. Regarding the business and labor sectors, he noted that the government had come to the assistance of over 52,000 companies and that the government was distributing nearly two million meals a week to the needy.
After the Ministry of Public Health and the President had announced the mandatory use of masks in public spaces and for those who are outside their homes for nonessential purposes, reports are that police and military are requesting to see masks of people who were traveling from Santo Domingo East to the National District on Saturday morning.
The airing of the taped speech was delayed about 45 minutes by a nationwide blackout. The blackout was said to cover the capital city and the Santo Domingo province and around 70% in the Cibao region. The state public electricity corporation (CDEEE) did not report the reasons for the untimely power outage.
Read more in Spanish:
N Digital – the speech in Spanish
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20 April 2020