Barely a month ago, Ghana began to record cases of the monster being referred to as Coronavirus or simply, COVID-19, a virus the World Health Organisation (WHO) has termed as a pandemic.
As of Thursday, April 2, 2020, Ghana had recorded a total of 204 cases, comprising of 5 deaths, 3 complete recoveries and 196 active cases.
Prior to Ghana registering its first case, no day passed without political debate on both traditional and social media. In fact, if a day could pass without political banters, then I could not be wrong to have said that there could be a pregnant virgin.
It is a fact that in every democratic dispensation, arguments from political parties are essential, but it seemed we were witnessing an over dose of that in our country.
Even, in the initial days of the outbreak in Ghana, the ordinary citizens were invited to a buffet of propaganda from political parties over government’s action and inaction.
You may have heard, watched or read political parties accusing one another of either not being truthful with information on the COVID-19 in Ghana, or the other debunking allegations.
Come to think of it, couldn’t they have used that time to remind the people, who would cue under the mercy of the sun to vote for them, the need for them to adhere strictly to the precautionary measures of washing hands regularly with soap under running water, maintaining a social distance, covering the mouth and nose with tissue when coughing or sneezing and disposing off the tissue immediately? After all, should all the citizens die from the virus, who would be left to vote to elect them?
Otherwise, they could have used that time to urge citizens to call the emergency number 112 when they felt unwell, instead of rushing to the hospital by themselves as they could infect innocent people if they had contracted the virus.
But, as the saying goes, it is better late than never. At least, for this week, all radio and television stations that used to gather politicians on their shows each day seems to have had a change of mind, considering the hurtful effect of the virus that has claimed thousands of precious lives globally.
Indeed, I could not have agreed better with President Akufo-Addo when he said “we are not in normal times.”
It is true because if we were in normal times, we would not be walking around town with our nose and mouth covered, not to talk of the burden of having to carry hand sanitizer with you all around, or frequently washing your hands with soap under running water.
Difficult of all is when you don’t have to touch your eyes, nose and ears because health experts say the virus could enter your body via those parts.
That notwithstanding, the virus has shown that it is no respecter of person; whether rich or poor, politician or ordinary citizen.
Ostensibly, the outbreak in Ghana has brought its own serenity on radio and television stations, as well as social media. Now, everything is about Coronavirus.
Majority, if not all, of people who hitherto would, in the name of politics insult the President, Ministers, MPs and other political figures, have turned into motivational speakers, if not advocates to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Today, #StopTheSpread #SpreadCalmNotFear and #StayAtHome has taken the center of almost all posts on social media. Television and radio stations spend much of their airtime to educate people on the preventive measures of COVID-19.
All those political ‘enemies’ are now singing the same chorus, educating people to stay home and observe the precautionary measures.
I never thought the politicians from both sides could unite with the same agenda to drive away COVID-19. I will not be surprised if you are also in a state of shock over that development in Ghana.
Yes, every political programme on television or radio stations has its own topics for discussion so one could not blame the politicians for doing real politics on those shows, suffice it to say that most times when there were topics, politicians diverted to discuss their own issues in the interest of their parties.
In most cases, all arguments had centered around opposition parties accusing government of not managing the economy well, or the latter debunking the assertion.
Regardless, we have to see this tragedy that has befell the nation and the unity being exhibited as a reason to put political colors aside in most cases, to genuinely help develop the country.
Again, in the spirit of President Akufo-Addo’s recent statement that, “we know how to bring back the economy, but what we do not know is how to bring people back to life,” it is very refreshing to note that there’s no more political banters on traditional and social media of late, thanks to COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister has disclosed that over 30 patients of the COVID-19 in Ghana have been discharged. This encourages me to continue to believe what President Akufo-Addo said that, “this too will pass.”
The post Maxwell Ofori Writes: COVID-19: The monster that has scared off political altercations appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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