Covid-19: Best Practices And Experiences Of Other Countries

During one of his “Fellow Ghanaians” speeches to the Nation recently, the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said that some decisions regarding the Covid-19 were made based on “….best practices and experiences of other countries….”. It has emerged that experiences of other countries are not beneficial to Ghana (may be to the whole of Africa) so we must devise our own means to defeat Covid-19. Simply put, no country has entirely found a solution to contain the spread of the virus.

Covid-19, declared by the World Health Organization as a pandemic, is actually a World War with an invisible, but not invincible, enemy. We have been pampering Covid-19 with the word “stigmatization” and because of this word, it is thriving on its supposed invincibility. Its about time to let people know who have been exposed to the virus so that closed relatives, friends and co-workers would take preventive measures and treatment without waiting for another fourteen days when they must have infected others with the virus. All those who have contracted the virus should be called Covid Veterans, with corresponding designations given them as in the military, they have been to the war front. For instance, Covid Fl. Lt Papa Owusu Ankomah, Covid Colonel Ken Agyapong, Covid General Kwaku Agyeman Manu, Covid General Dr “Napo”. The Doctors and Nurses in the battlefront deserve designations as well; they are the commanding officers in the war front. Those who have contracted the virus and survived are our source of information as to how to deal with the virus. How do we expect them to be ambassadors yet we do not want to know their identities, Covid-19 is not to be equated with HIV/Aids. Covid-19 will engulf us all if we continue with this “kataso muamua so” (secrecy) attitude. We should give them all our love and support after their recovery instead of shunning them. They should be made to know that we wished them well, not expecting the unfortunate thing to happen to them.

Every war has its turning point, towards victory or defeat. To defeat Covid-19 there must be a turning point. Those active cases should be considered as our heroes, their identities known, and they should not be stigmatized. There should rather be a law against stigmatization. This law should be broadened to include ethnic stigmatization, for instance, one ethnic group looking down on another by words or actions. By taking steps to turn the tide, we will be leading the world towards defeating the enemy instead of following blindly and not knowing where we are all heading. The turning point of World War II was June 05, 1944, the D-Day, when the United States General Dwight Eisenhower, heading advice, crossed the English Channel to Normandy instead of The Germans expectation at Calais.

The President of the Republic did well by granting amnesty to some prisoners to decongest the prisons. It was rather unfortunate that some days later it was announced that Ghanaians would be sent to jail for not wearing face masks to take the place of hardened criminals who had been freed. Not wearing a face mask is an offence according to the President of the Republic but it is not a criminal one. All crimes are offences but not all offences are crimes. Sending people to jail for not wearing face masks is not a best practice or experience from other countries. Arresting people and flogging people in public are worst practices of other countries (if any) and must not be entertained in Ghana. The Governor of the State of Texas, Greg Abbott, in The United States said “… people should not be sent to jail over not wearing a face mask..” whilst recommending reasonable fines for first offenders and recalcitrant offenders. Being stubborn for not wearing a face mask should not give a law enforcement agency the discretion of whether to beat you or throw you to jail.

BY Nana Osei Mensah Bonsu

(Migration and Citizenship Consultant, Global Migration Systems Consultancy)

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