Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus may have rubbed the Trump administration the wrong way but he still enjoys an international vote of confidence to lead the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
From an early age, the 55-year old Ethiopian microbiologist who was born in Eritrea when that nation and Ethiopia were one country, had a singular ambition.
It was to become the knight who would put to the proverbial sword diseases such as malaria.
This was borne out of a personal experience, when measles hit home, claiming the life of his four-year old brother.
As head of the World Health Organisation, Ghebreyesus very naturally became the global face of the crusade against the coronavirus and ruffled the feathers of US president Donald Trump in the process.
The American leader is calling for his resignation, a call ignored by the rest of the world.
In several trenchant reactions to spurious conspiracy theories blaming China for deliberately creating the virus and spreading it to the rest of the world, Ghebreyesus had risked riding roughshod with the Trump administration by brushing this allegation as a figment of Washington’s imagination.
Trump, who has accused him of handling the coronavirus outbreak poorly attracted worldwide condemnation following his ill-conceived and ill-timed withdrawal of $400 million US contribution to the WHO in protest.
Thanks to his abrasive relations with Washington, Ghebreyesus has been facing double adversaries, one in the form of the coronavirus and the other in the person of Mr. Trump, who always spoiling for a fight, announced that his country would withhold its funding of the organisation to which it has been the main donor.
Ghebreyesus has been under pressure since the coronavirus went truly global with disastrous consequences for human lives and economies as nations scramble for the right safety regulations to stop its further spread.
A former minister of Health in Ethiopia between 2005 and 2012, Ghebreyesus even claimed death threats on his person but insisted that he would not be cowed into submission or distracted from his unenviable task of taking the deadly sting out of a pandemic which has claimed lives upwards of 150, 000 globally since it first surfaced in Wuhan, China last December.
“I don’t give a damn” he retorted to these supposed threats from quarters which are as obscure as the cure for the virus has proved after more than four months of exercising the minds of the world’s finest medical scientists.
Ghebreyesus expressed regret over the US funding withdrawal but remained firm, unfazed and unapologetic.
And he was not done yet.
Like a flash quicker than the dull flickers from the continent’s leaders, he swiftly deployed his strongest condemnation of open discrimination and molestation of Africans in China where reports said blacks were being accused of being carriers of the coronavirus and placed under forced lockdown against their will even if they had not tested positive for the virus.
The reactions from across Africa to Ghebreyesus’ stance were one of adoration for one of their own who would not be shocked and awed by the might of a Western power.
Many on the continent feel the world is witnessing a slow but sure power shift from its traditional heavyweights led by the United States to a welcome new powerhouse China.
For the very first time in the history of the WHO, it has a Director-General who is something of a cult hero for merely standing up to the leader of the so-called free world and telling it like it is.
Ghebreyesus’ official Facebook page has been flooded with praises for the Ethiopian from admirers who were mostly Africans.
Reacting on his page, Goiton Kelem wrote: “You are doing great, with high effort on the front line to stop the coronavirus pandemic, we are with you. We are proud of you”.
Fellow Ethiopian, Tesfay Tewelay said the WHO head’s enemies and challenges are key to the success and recognition of his compatriot.
“So defeat them in front of the world as usual because you accomplished many things in the last two years.and we are proud of you” he added.
Another Ethiopian, Guesh Haile Fesseha wrote: “Keep doing the work and take positively the blames as it seems natural and normal for people like you to expect attacks of this kind. Nobody hits a dead dog!!
Even South Africa has joined the bandwagon celebrating the little man from Ethiopia who made history as the first African to head the WHO in 2017.
International Relations Minister Naledi Pandor described him as a true world leader whose appreciated leadership of WHO during the current coronavirus pandemic is imperative to taming the virus.
Pandor said thanks to Ghebreyesus’ prompt advice to all countries at his frequent briefings, her country was able to prepare for and weather the outbreak.
“We got ready to handle the disease as a country because we listened to Ghebreyesus” Pandor said, adding that his transparency helped save a lot of lives in Africa and the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, a keen observer of international events who wished anonymity observed that the world is running short of strongmen who speak their mind and be damned and people everywhere are looking for leaders who would stand up to a section of the global order.
In his opinion, Ghebreyesus fits this description.
WN/as/APA