NDC Remedy for COVID-19 Pandemic Is 3-Day Nationwide Fasting and Praying

There may be a good side to the eruption of the Coronavirus pandemic vis-à-vis the preparedness of the leadership of Ghana’s main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the handling of this withering global plague. Indeed, as of this writing, the National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Mr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, had declared a three-day nationwide fasting and praying among the registered members, supporters and sympathizers of the party and other “well-meaning Ghanaian citizens” (See “Coronavirus: NDC Declares 3-Day Nationwide Fasting and Prayers” News Desk – Modernghana.com 3/19/20). Meanwhile, party key operatives like Messrs. Samuel George Nartey and Johnson Asiedu-Nketia have been busy virulently accusing the Akufo-Addo-led ruling government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of either hiding behind the ruse of earmarking humongous amounts of money to put in place protective measures that are aimed at drastically stemming the spread of the pandemic or simply scheming to take advantage of the Coronavirus pandemic to rig the 2020 general election.

We have already rejoined the patently bogus and cynical claim by Mr. Samuel George Nartey, the National Democratic Congress’ Member of Parliament for the Ningo-Prampram Constituency, in the Greater-Accra Region, in a previous column and so do not intend to reprise the same details here. Rather, what we want to underscore here is that Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo, a former Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, as well as a former Minister for the Eastern Region, his home turf, has offered absolutely no practical policy guidance or initiative to facilitate a feasible solution for the Coronavirus pandemic, most especially vis-à-vis the deleterious impact of this global pandemic on Ghana, other than to cheaply and cynically play on the emotions of the country’s Christian majority populace.

Instead of rolling out complementary policy proposals, as leaders of Ghana’s main opposition political party, and thus help the ruling Akufo-Addo-led government of the New Patriotic Party to more effectively ward off this global existential menace, Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo, who is also currently standing trial for either engineering or orchestrating activities geared towards the criminal destabilization of the peace and the prosperity of the country and the forcible removal of the democratically elected Akufo-Addo Administration, if memory serves yours truly accurately, has been traipsing the media landscape around the country quoting Biblical verses, as if the latter alone was the most effective way of staving off this global pandemic that, as of this writing, may have already taken the lives of more than 10,000 people in China and Italy alone and is fast gaining momentum in the southwestern United States.

But, of course, most Ghanaians are intelligent, self-respecting and sophisticated enough to realize the fact that even the greatest of all evildoers in the Christian Bible, Lucifer or Satan, is far more versatile with Biblical quotes than the Holy Father or The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Ghanaians need to demand more constructive engagement and substantive policy contributions from kleptocratic National Democratic Congress’ leaders like Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, aka Bui Dam Woyome, the party’s longest-reigning dynastic General-Secretary, as well as the NDC’s nominee for the 2020 Presidential Election, Candidate John Dramani Mahama. But, of course, it also goes without saying that Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo is dead-on-target when the National Chairman of the National Democratic quotes Second Chronicles, Chapter 7 Verse 14 and acknowledges that, indeed, the leadership of his party may be more direly in need of cultivating the globally prized spirit of humility, accountability and justice.

Perhaps what is most significant to note here is the fact that the Coronavirus pandemic has struck at a time when the most intellectually astute and morally responsible and accountable and progressive and visionary Ghanaian leaders and citizens are in charge of the official affairs of the country. In other words, Ghanaians could not have made a better choice in massively voting for the Akufo-Addo-led Administration of the New Patriotic Party to take charge of the affairs and the business of the country. Indeed, even as the President has himself publicly acknowledged, the power of God in the affairs and the activities of humans is inescapable and indispensable. What is absurdly strange here, though, are the ones who are now desperately calling up “Divine Providence” to quickly come down to intercede in the increasingly desperate affairs of Ghanaian humanity.

*Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs

By Kwame Okoampa-Ahoofe, Jr., PhD
English Department, SUNY-Nassau
Garden City, New York
March 19, 2020
E-mail: [email protected]