Leadership they say is lonely and please never envy any leader….it’s so damn lonely. Personally I am at a loss as to why Ghana of all nations would lift the restrictions imposed on Greater Accra, Kasoa and the Greater Kumasi Metropolis. When the lockdown was announced initially, folks were against it. Now it’s been lifted, folks are against it.
For the average Ghanaian, locking down at 100+ and lifting the restrictions at 1000+ is quite confusing. Folks indicated that the informal nature of our economy meant that most folks merely eke out a living on a day to day basis which means it’s necessary for them to go to work least six days in a week to be able to keep body and soul together not least to talk about keeping the family together.
It is against the backdrop of these socio economic factors that a leader has to weigh all the implications of his decisions and not only the health factors…. Advisors of His Excellency will be debating ad infinitum to impress on him why a particular course of action is most preferable in relation to others.
Many pundits would refer to what’s happening in countries like the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, France and the United States in terms of the devastating impact the novel corona virus is having on their nations. The argument is that if these countries who have even more advanced medical systems than us, then aren’t we playing with fire by lifting the lockdown.
It’s also been argued that if the pandemonium that meets the distribution of food to the less privileged in the areas under lockdown is the reason for lifting the restrictions on movements, then it’s time to explore other creative ways of sharing the food and other supplies.
For instance, can’t we use our traditional systems in our towns and villages, our religious institutions, and other social networks to ensure that all needy persons get the needed assistance. There’s no doubt that this is the wakeup call for us as a nation to hasten our process of collecting data on all citizens through national institutions like the National Identification Authority, Electoral Commission, Social Security and National Insurance Trust among others.
Our churches, mosques and other religious institutions should accept this wakeup call and develop their data systems so that reaching out to our populace doesn’t become a nightmare in times like these.
For me, I am in a quandary as to how we can effectively combat this pandemic with the lifted restrictions. We need our people to appreciate that we can either stem the spread of this virus together or spread it through our actions and inactions.
Social distancing, personal hygiene and staying home should be our route. We do not have to take unnecessary risks in these trying times. The least mistake we make and we will be spiraling down the route taken by the countries that are recording multiple thousands of cases.
Come April 2021, we should be in a position to say, Covid-19 attacked us as a nation but we overcame it by maintaining personal hygiene, social distancing and staying home or avoiding unnecessary crowds.
Don’t forget this year, we going to the polls and that means a certain calendar has to be followed so while we thinking and talking, democracy has to continue. The question is, what price are we willing to pay for our democracy?
