Instead of sympathizing with grieving families and implementing policies that will protect the entire Ghanaian populace, lawmakers in Ghana continue to physically engage in brawls that threaten the very future of the country’s democracy. Like every other country on Earth, Ghana; the country closest to the very meeting place of latitude and longitude continue to be haunted by the ghostly visitor who keeps gnawing at the world’s human population for some years now. Even though scientists claim Covid-19 emerged around 2019, the Ghanaian people officially welcomed this uninvited fellow in 2020. That year will definitely go down in the history of the West African country as one of the most difficult years they have had to deal with. At the peak of it all however, the parliament of Ghana rose to the occasion and proved the constitution right by utilizing the immense power placed at their disposal. The house did not only consecutively reject a certain “imposition of restrictions bills” that was “hastily” put together by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo led executive until the bill was properly reviewed, but also implemented the reviewed version under a “certificate of urgency” in the best interest of the Ghanaian people.
The corona virus despite it’s inability to wreck the same volume of havoc in the “sun baked” streets of Ghana just as it did in Europe and Asia however, still managed to kill some 1287 residents of Ghana with over 8000 more either bedridden or recovering from the virus. As minute as these numbers may be as compare to the numbers of other countries, it is still worrying considering the state of the country’s health facilities and rather poor health sector. “So far, we have been lucky” a friend of mine from the health sector said when I asked if the corona virus can re-escalate here in Ghana. “A real escalation of this virus here will be disastrous because we do not have what it takes to fight it” she continued. For a minute, I was silent because it is a pity that a country like Ghana, who used to be the beacon of hope for the entire African continent should now be depending solely on luck to survive in the face of a pandemic when civil war survivor like Rwanda continue to leave marks in gold across the very face of history.
When president Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo promised to build hospitals in every district therefore, I was happy for a minute that corona virus came. At lease it came to expose our shortcomings as a country and also to tell the politicians that they can not always fly to the western world for medical care. They will therefore have no other option but to build a robust health system here. Well! Little did I know then that the promise was a typical Ghanaian campaign promise; those that are made for the fun of it and are never fulfilled. A simple operation could have saved my only brother’s life, but I lost him because “there were no more beds” to accommodate him at the Okomfo Akokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi. However, we give precedence to members of the executive and members of parliament even in health related issues and also treat them with state funds when they fall sick. The least they could do therefore is protect themselves against diseases like the corona virus. Unfortunately, our members of parliament have decided to fight and fuel chaos in parliament with utmost disregard for the outlined safety measures against Covid-19. How long can we continue depending on luck to save us? As we continue to lose industrious sons and daughters of this once great nation to this very ruthless killer, we need everyone especially those elected to lead us, to adhere strictly to the outlined safety measures in order to save lives and property.
What went wrong? How did Ghana get here? Will this country ever get back to it’s rightful place among the elites of Africa? These were the questions I continuously ask myself with little or no hope of finding and answer.
Content created and supplied by: TsaliG (via Opera
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