Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern on Thursday accepted the resignation of the controversial Minister of health in this country, a labour MP David Clark.
Minister fired for serious mistakes committed during performance of official duties, as well as personally during a pandemic. He twice violated the rules of exclusion, requiring citizens to stay home. The first time he went to ride a mountain bike in the midst of the pandemic in this island nation and the second in April, took his whole family and went to a beach walk 23 kilometers from his home in Dunedin.
Local media was called “ineffective and populist Minister” Dr. Clark, who served as head of the Ministry of health in New Zealand from 2017. Now they got a reason for the new mock Clark. The doctor apologized for both incidents, saying the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern that he was “an idiot” and showed weakness, The Guardian reports.
In response Ardern has been downgraded by Clark in the government from the senior to the Minister, depriving him of certain powers, but refraining from dismissal. The Prime Minister explained at a press conference that the government of New Zealand need professional knowledge of Clark for the period of emergency in public health. Ardern said that the priority is the preservation of stability in the government during the crisis. Note that at the beginning of July in New Zealand was 1528 confirmed or probable cases of coronavirus, 22 people died. Last month Ardern ordered to remove all restrictive measures, and the country was declared free from COVID-19.
In the weeks following the demotion of Clark public hostility to the Minister only intensified. However, in this situation the Minister of health not only showed no effort to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of the Prime Minister and the public, but on the contrary actually withdrew from coordination of health efforts on the localization of the impact of the pandemic. The last straw was the fact that the Ministry of health New Zealand allowed a pair of Britons infected with the coronavirus, to travel around the country. They drove 650 miles to New Zealand, on the road talking with dozens of people. In addition, the Agency did not check for the presence COVID-19 more than 50 other international guests who were quarantined at the hotel after arrival in this country. The tests were conducted only about four of them, two were infected with the deadly infection. The story hit the media and it was a blow to the reputation of Kasindi Ardern, where a few months ahead of a General election.
as a result, Clark Thursday submitted to the Prime Minister his resignation, which was accepted.
