Governments around the world have faced a crisis of legitimacy in responding to COVID-19. Even the most transparent, accountable governments have struggled to demonstrate that they are doing the best possible job of protecting their citizens.
An article by Umedjon Majidi that was posted on CABAR website says the response of the Tajik government is seen as the sole responsibility of a single party or individual, there is added pressure to report success at all costs.
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Authoritarian Regimes in Central Asia– The Case of Tajikistan notes that the case of Tajikistan provides an interesting study on impact of pandemic on its governance structure. Tajikistan reportedly followed the policy of denialism to celebrate the mass gathering until the end of April and was one of the last countries in the world to announce that the virus had been detected. The country decision to follow denialist strategy was to protect the image of the country that it is safe from outside threat.
From early spring until end of April, official authorities did not recognize the existence of the pandemic in Tajikistan and avoided adopting any preventive policy measures, beside closing the airport in early March 2020 and establishing The Inter-Agency Standing Committee on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response lead by country’s Prime Minister.
Nonetheless, citizens of Tajikistan noticed that there was increased incidence of atypical respiratory diseases, beyond what had already been a difficult flu season. This seemed to be confirmed in May 2020, when the government acknowledged that there were indeed excess cases, but they were pneumonia, not COVID-19. Citizens and civil society organizations in social media websites were already announcing their daily case count and enacting a variety of measures that were not being taken in Tajikistan. When they could not receive any official information, social activists created an informal COVID-19 patient statistics website. The COVID-19 Death Reporting in Tajikistan website, www.kvtj.info, allowed individuals to self-report on COVID-19 patients, thus providing a running list that included both infection and death, as well as a list of external assistance for responding to COVID-19. As of December 8, 2020, the site estimates the number of deaths as 446, compared with the Government’s official figure of 88.
From the end of April, the Government of Tajikistan under certain pressure to gain financial assistance has decided to recognize the existence of the virus and acknowledged that there have been COVID-19 cases in the country, but with much lower numbers than reported on the civil society website.
In July, the Government of Tajikistan amended Criminal and Administrative Codes Offences. A new statute in Administrative code stated illegality of any published information about COVID-19 that is not from official sources. Publishing fake or unchecked news on printed media or social media (fine from $50 and $1100), only official statistic should be considered an exact information. The amendments also introduced a fine for not wearing a face mask in public places (fine between $10 and $30); Changes in criminal code regulate contracting other person with COVID-19 virus and quarantine violation with both implying legal punishment for up to 5 years in prison.
This decision has virtually limited the freedom of information which is guaranteed by the Constitution.
