Day 4 of the lockdown: My thoughts

1. I think the security officers are getting frustrated by the many excuses that people are using to stay out of their homes. Imagine 50% of market women in Kumasi coming out under the pretense of selling foodstuffs or 10,000 going to buy groceries at Dr. Mensah. Imagine 1000 people out in the streets searching for lunch to buy. Imagine 1000 people travelling from Moshie Zongo to Dr. Mensah just to buy bread when same was within 100m reach at Moshie Zongo. Imagine 1000 people lying to security officers that they need products from a pharmacy when indeed their intention is just to get to town and observe what is happening. I can go on and on and on. These excuses are making nonsense of the intentions of the partial lockdown.

2. The naked fact is that when you give us (it appears majority) an inch, you can be sure we will take a yard. With such an attitude, the partial lockdown will fail to achieve its intended objective. Lessons deriving from our attitude and lack of cooperation in this partial lockdown period may guide government to impose a total lockdown in few weeks if we are indeed minded to prevent the spread of Covid-19 horizontally.

3. Reviewing the documentaries and stories told by colleagues in Italy, UK, USA, Germany, China, and Canada, I can safely say that many of our people simply do not know what we are dealing with. Covid-19, if not restricted with all the necessary force (pitch and muscle), it has the potential to turn some communities into ghost towns. Though we preach calm, the horror is not far from us knowing the weaknesses in our health system. All it takes is an unfettered horizontal spread, to the extent that our health system is overwhelmed. Never underestimate it; Milan was once a jewel. Madrid was once blazing in shenanigans and glory. New York is currently bleeding. I say, do not underestimate it.

4. Hon. Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah and his team have done an excellent job thus far. Their frequent updates are on point. I will however extend a recommendation from Josephine Sintim-poku to them; if possible, they should translate the English to Twi as about 85% of the Ghanaian population understands or speaks twi. Most of the things they say in English are likely to get to the end consumer diluted if translation is left to the numerous media houses.

5. Finally, I wish to make an appeal to all Ghanaians and foreigners resident in Ghana to play their part in this fight. To the recalcitrant citizens, your attitude endangers all of us. You needlessly attract abuse from the security officers. Stop that. To the security officers, in this frustrating environment, we expect you to prove your professionalism. Arrest such recalcitrant people and let the courts deal with them. Likewise, if there is evidence of abuse, the said officers should be taken through the process.

In this fight, there are no magic bullets or medicines that can control the spread. There are only attitudes and characters.

This one too shall pass!

Long Live Ghana!