In my last article,  I presciently recognised that we had just witnessed a game-changing moment in the pandemic saga.

The government subsequently announced a significant downsizing/scaling back of public health restrictions and this was received extremely well by the business community and society at large.

My only concern, fear, is that this was a tactical retreat in anticipation of the imminent general election rather than a genuine realisation that the pandemic needs to be declared over. 

To truly restore business confidence, and make businesses feel comfortable and confident that the pandemic saga is behind us and that business stakeholders can go back to normal, the government needs to categorically declare that there is no going back and that we are as a country (genuinely) going to learn to live with the virus! No ifs and buts. Period.

We can’t have the deputy prime minister, representatives of the Ministry of Health and/or the Superintendent of Public Health making portentous statements and qualifying the lifting of restrictions vexatiously with the frightening option to revert back, if deemed appropriate.

We seem to be living in a prolonged state of public health restrictions

What they fail to understand is that these extraordinary ‘powers’ were always meant to be temporary, proportionate to the epidemiological situation on the ground and non-discriminatory. 

To date, and two years plus down the line, local public health restrictions have been anything but!

Let me try to spell it out, in no uncertain terms: the free market operates best in a democratic system where people are free. We therefore can’t keep guessing, wondering and/or speculating, on will he/won’t he impose the fourth booster, make the vaccine mandatory, restrict or control how businesses operate, restrict peoples’ freedom of movement or right to work and, most importantly, will public health policy continue to reign supreme over sociopolitical and economic considerations, no matter what the price.

My academic background is economics, political science and business management, and what I know for certain is that the free market system is based on economic freedom, consumer sovereignty, the right to private property, profits as an incentive and competition.

To date, the deputy prime minister, representatives of the Ministry of Health and/or the Superintendent of Public Health have, in my opinion, via their (presumably) ‘well-intentioned’ public health restrictions undermined the free market system and destroyed business confidence. This clearly is not good for our economy and its future prospects. More worryingly, I see no end to all this. The nanny state, Big Government, seemingly, is here to stay and public health reigns supreme.

Our economy is built on the free market which has as an underlying premise: the concept of freedom and inalienable rights. Put another way, individuals are free to pursue what they believe to be best for them as long as they are not infringing upon the rights of others. Hence, my choice of title: ‘Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’.

This means individuals are free to engage as equals, without discrimination or fear of discrimination. People take the vaccine to protect themselves ultimately, since scientific research now clearly shows that the vaccine does not stop transmission or infection (no sterilising immunity). Therefore, if people are happy with two jabs plus natural immunity or three jabs (even four jabs) or natural immunity through infection, etc, so be it.

Each individual should be allowed to freely take his/her own decision, especially now that the pandemic is moving towards endemicity. Yet we seem to be living a prolonged state of public health restrictions being imposed, withdrawn and/or threatened to be reintroduced, in a discriminatory manner, disproportionately and with no end in sight. This, quite literally, is the surest way to destroy the free market economy we have built our democracy on since, like a cancer, it eats away at confidence.

Consequently, if the economy is going to flourish in 2022, the state needs to allow the private sector to take the lead again and Big Government must stop crowding out private sector activity or undermining it. I fear that we have forgotten what it means to be free or why the free market or democracy are so important. 

I, therefore, appeal to our leaders, to have the courage and vision, to make a clear statement of intent: “We shall learn to live with the virus and go back to normal no matter what. We have as a state done more than enough to protect society, even if at a huge socio and economic price, but now is the time to turn over a new chapter and focus on genuinely restoring economic, social and political freedoms.”