In journalism 101 we were taught never to give the oxygen of publicity to quack remedies for dreaded diseases.

That’s why you don’t read, hear or see about cures for cancer in anything approaching responsible media.

Believe me, these emerge daily from the crazies and the con-artists seeking attention or a fast buck.

So it was to be expected that miracle antidotes to COVID 19 would be flung at editors very early on in the pandemic.

They could safely ignore almost all them –  until heads of state got involved.

Madagascar’s deejay turned President Andry Rajoelina seeks international endorsement of a remedy for COVID 19 made from the leaves of the artemisia which has provided relief to some malaria sufferers.

He could have saved his blushes had he sat in on my journalism cadet course all those years ago.

And the bench next to him could usefully have been occupied by the United States television game show star turned President  Donald Trump who advocated another outdated malaria remedy, the outdated chloroquine,  for curing COVID 19.

That was before he  threw the medical reins between the horses last month and urged COVID 19 patients to inject disinfectant and shine ultra violet light into their bodies.

Time magazine reports the American Association of Poison Control Centres finding a 121% increase in poisoning from bleach and other disinfectants in April 2020 over the same month the previous year. 

Rajoelina cannot match Trump’s lethal milestone. However his angry assertion that the African Union has rejected the herbal remedy known as COVID ORGANICS only because it was not developed by a European company shows he has a sense of the ridiculous every bit as well-developed as his Washington counterpart.

And he evidently shares the Donald’s penchant. for disregarding the media that does not reflect his  views.

How else could he have overlooked the storm last month when two French doctors suggested that the COVID 19 vaccine be tested on poor Africans because they have not taken protected measures?

Doctors Camille Locht and Jean-Paul Mira have had the good sense to apologize for hurt and offense they caused.

The Africa’s continental body was furiously adamant that it citizens would not be used as guinea pigs.

So has the World Health Organisation,  Like the AU the WHO give the thumbs down to COVID ORGANICS  which has reportedly been tested on 20 people for two weeks. Hardly decisive.

Rajoelina can draw some comfort from the favorable attention his peers have given the Malgash remedy.

Tanzania’s President John Magafuli,  who evidently believes that his chemistry qualification  entitles him to be a COVID 19 maverick, sent a plane to collect a load of the remedy  in Antananarivo.

Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Niger  have also bought consignments.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize is quoted as saying South Africa will help test and analyse COVID ORGANICS.

I fully support African solutions to African problems. But this is surely a classical case for caution. 

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Their owners could face millions of dollars in fines.

The ships were seized by inspectors from Guinea, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau.

They found them to be violating regulations on catching protected fish and using nets with small holes to facilitate bigger hauls.

With that equipment a Chinese ship can catch in a week what it takes local fisherman a year to haul in.

The arrests came after a two-month regional patrol on a Greenpeace ship, the Esperanza.

The Greenpeace ship carries local inspectors from West African countries often hamstrung by budget and technology constraints.

A recent study by Frontiers in Marine Science estimated West Africa’s annual losses from illegal and unregulated fishing at $2,3 billion.

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Recent seizures along the Kenyan and Tanzanian coastlines show a southern route is beginning to rival that Balkan route through Iran and southeast Europe.

Africa’s sporadically identified since 2002 as an origin for heroin reaching Europe.

For the past three years, however, the United Nations has tagged East Africa as a prominent spot.

The world organisation says Afghanistan grows four fifths of the world’s illicit opium products.

Opium production’s increased 17 percent these past two years.

It’s feared a record Afghani opium harvest will flood global heroin markets this year.

Increased drug trafficking could destabilise the already volatile region. Western officials say they fear a repeat of what happened in Guinea-Bissau, which became Africa’s first narco state.

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