Ever since Ghana recorded a case of the novel virus, covid19, somewhere in the middle of March 2020, a lot of efforts from all angles have yielded positive results to the society.
A quick glance down memory lane suggests that there were many calls from some groups and individuals organizing press conferences upon press conferences calling on the government to evacuate it’s students/citizens from countries where the disease started or was spreading fast.
However, adequate recourse wasn’t given to the dynamics of the disease by these people during the early days of its emergence. Though one cannot say that the situation would have been more dire had the government heeded to those unscientific calls, but the many examples of countries which acted prematurely by evacuating their citizens are clear cases of the benefits or others of taking hasty decisions with little understanding of what lies ahead.
These same individuals or groups with little or no knowledge of what communicable diseases are, would have been the same “empty drums” chastising the government on not doing due diligence. Thankfully a lot of due diligence was done and the decision not to evacuate citizens was in the best interest of us all.
Further, the Ghanaian people are well abreast with global threats of the novel virus, and thus are well prepared. What they have been waiting for is a clear sense of direction on the way forward. The president of the republic was very decisive in communicating the situation of the country as far as the disease is concerned.
The president is one of the few ones who gives periodic updates on what the situation is and what is being done to control the spread of the disease. Ghana is one of the countries in the sub region with a good record of contact tracing, testing and management of the disease.
The president is not oblivious of the challenges but in the midst of an enemy who no one happens to have a comprehensive understanding of, he is providing a selfless leadership uncharacteristic of those in the immediate past with a lackadaisical attitude towards events with adequate knowledge such as cholera.
Though the fight against covid19 is far from being won, the country has made significant progress in reaching out to a large number of people for testing and at the same time encouraging everyone to do social distancing, hand washing with soap under running water and self-quarantine if one is suspicious of any sign and symptom of the disease.
As a country, this is the time we need leaders to motivate and provide that fighting spirit in the minds and hearts of those at the forefront of the battle field. The president has done just that by publicly availing his three months salary for the fight and subsequently cushioning all Frontline health workers with tax exemptions on salaries and varied degrees of increases in base salaries.
He was clear in his mind when he stated categorically that “We do know how to bring back the economy, but what we do not know is how to bring back a life lost”, therefore as a govt we will do whatever it takes to ensure we protect the lives of Ghanaians.
This is the time we need united voices, not divisiveness in the midst of a serious pandemic like covid19. One would have thought that haven suffered in the hands of Ghanaian voters as a result of his incompetence, this covid19 pandemic would have thought him a lesson on how to at least redeem some amount of dignity in the eyes of Ghanaians on how to run a country in unison with best practices globally.
But unfortunately the incompetence has eaten up the entire fibre of his machinery, hence instead of him to reason and join hands as statesman with the president to fight a common enemy; he goes around without recourse to any national mechanism of tackling issues.
We are comforted in the fact that the Ghanaian people trust us in our collective efforts of dealing with the pandemic. On behalf of the New Patriotic Party and govt in the Savannah region, I say thank you my people in heeding to all the protocols of the pandemic by the president. We shall overcome this deadly disease together.
The keys to winning the fight still remain
#SocialDistancing
#HandWashingWithSoap
#StayAtHome
Long live Ghana
Long live Savannah region
……. signed……
Alhaji Iddrisu Sulemana
(Prof Kalamonia)
Savannah regional chairman, NPP
