Prime Minister Andrew Holness yesterday described as a moral failure the stockpiling of COVID-19 vaccines by wealthier countries at the expense of poor black nations which many of them victimised on their way to the top.

At the same time, former Prime Minister PJ Patterson said that, while the fight against imperial domination apartheid has been won, the “scourges of exploitation and racism are still alive and flourishing”.

Both leaders were addressing a webinar in recognition of Africa Day, themed ‘A Conversation with Africa, A Destiny of Peace, Prosperity, Strength and Unity’.

Holness, in a very strident address, reiterated his call for rich countries that have stockpiled COVID-19 vaccines to share them with poor nations that are struggling to vaccinate their populations.

“It cannot be morally justified that rich countries, many of whom gained their wealth and scientific advantage through the exploitation of Africa and its people, now use this wealth and scientific advantage to hoard and stockpile vaccines, while the poor and historically exploited and deprived countries wait in uncertainty to access equitable and consistent supplies, their populations at risk and their economies on pause,” Holness said.

“It would be the greatest setback for mankind if inequitable vaccine access were to cause uneven recovery and a widening of the development gap between rich and poor globally,” the prime minister argued.

Holness commended the Government of the Republic of South Africa for the establishment of the African Union’s African Vaccine Acquisition Trust and the African Medical Supplies Platform and allowing Caricom countries such as Jamaica access.

The prime minister said this had not only become a critical lifeline for the COVID-19 vaccination response, but a flagship example of South-South cooperation on critical development matters, leveraging the purchasing power of Africa as a whole on behalf of smaller, more dispersed populations.

He further noted that the long-standing efforts through the World Trade Organization to introduce fairness and balance in the global trading system have long evaded success.

“The impact on our countries remains worrying. Economic partnership agreements introduced a new dimension into the special arrangements which came out of our colonial past, yet the record of performance has been mixed and far from encouraging,” Holness declared.

He said, although it has been 31 years since Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom and six years into the International Decade for People of African Descent, the collective global journey in the quest for justice continues for African people.

“This includes eradicating the inequities which have caused persistent poverty and disenfranchisement of the peoples of the continent and its sixth region despite our inherent wealth and natural endowment,” the prime minister stated.

These inequities, he noted, “have been magnified by the pandemic in which the people of African descent have suffered disproportionately, both in health and economic terms”.

“Our people are also disproportionately affected by climate change and, in the global space, do not enjoy equitable access to education, justice and equal treatment,” Holness added.

“The imperative is to harness our wealth and resources and with equal urgency we need to rebalance existing international and economic structures in favour of our accelerated development and dignity. We must strive to overcome systemic and institutional prejudices, inequitable health care and education and all other residues of enslavement and colonialism that have undermined our progress and prosperity,” he argued.

Meanwhile, Patterson noted that his PJ Patterson Centre for African-Caribbean Advocacy had made an unequivocal call for unity between Africa and the Caribbean, including Cuba, in facing the nevel coronavirus pandemic which has exposed incalculable perils.

“The denials to make the vaccine available to poor and medium-sized developing countries has resulted in a new form of pharmaceutical hegemony and patent imperialism,” he argued.

“We strongly support the call of South Africa and India for the TRIPS Waiver and the call by the World Trade Organization for increased production of vaccines for equitable distribution to all countries on a range of medical products in order to bring COVID under full control in every continent and island,” he said further.

“In this vale of uncertainly, the only thing we know for sure [is that] things will never be the same again in the fields of trade, financial flows, travel, health, education, technology and patterns of social behaviour.

“In this unfolding scenario, Africa and the Caribbean, with the active engagement of our influential diaspora and allies in Asia and Latin America, must insist that we are fully represented at the negotiating table. No one else can promote and protect our vital interests better than ourselves through unity which engenders collective strength and thereby protects our common interest,” Patterson argued.

He further noted that a new global architecture must ensure that areas in which there is a vital interest “cannot simply be pledges that are never honoured, or pious declarations which are completely and quickly forgotten”.

“We are convinced that our umbilical connection and the acceleration of crisis in our time oblige us to mobilise a trans-global condition so as to secure our rightful place and fulfil our destiny in the world of tomorrow. Our global institutions and relationships have revealed devastating structural failures. What the world needs now is a bold and modern design for this millennium, a brand-new global architecture. Let the conversation continue and be intensified so that we can breathe again and ensure that we will overcome one day which is not too distant from today,” he said.