Folks, having watched videos clips on the physical assault on Ghanaians supposedly violating Akufo-Addo’s directive, I am tempted to conclude that common sense has eluded the Ghanaian Establishment.
No justification exists for the brutality, clearly because of the haphazard manner in which Akufo-Addo approached this lockdown.
Fundamentally, the choice of parts of the country on which the partial lockdown was imposed has no basis. What criteria informed the decision, especially when no clear evidence existed at the time on the extent of spread of Covid 19 in Ghana?
Considering the demographics of the Ghanaian system and the unregulated movement of people, how could the security agents be deployed to check the status or identification cards of commuters that we have seen being brutalized just for either moving out of the affected areas or for going out to buy food or to attend to Nature’s call?
Ao, my people!! So deprived and dehumanized to be physically assaulted as such? Too depressing!!
The crude manner in which the directive is being enforced leaves a really bitter taste in the mouth.
What rationale informed the deployment of such security agents (suspected to be the hoodlums in the NPP’s vigilante groups that Akufo-Addo whitewashed and got recruited into the security apparatus?
Should physical assault in difficult times of this sort be the most preferred approach? No!!!
What public education was done before the start of the lockdown so non-permanent residents of the affected areas could find their way out so as not to be caught in the mess that we see now?
Again, what arrangements did the government make for those non-permanent residents or even the permanent ones who lacked the means for survival (food, water, shelter) to be evacuated? None!!
Many more questions begging for answers.
Thus, by unleashing brute force on the poor and desperate Ghanaians as showcased in the video clips, the government has lost face. It has set itself up for something unpleasant, probably to happen at the general elections if ever held. More trouble for Ayoola (alias Akufo-Addo)!!
The story about the arrest of a group of “kayayei” being transported up north speaks volumes as well. All the exploitation of the political dividend of the “kayayei” by the NPP has now translated into something “shitty”!!
My verdict? Akufo-Addo’s approach to this lockdown is weird, inhumàn, and unacceptable. It adds another sordid chapter to the annals of his history of incompetence, waywardness, fumbling and bumbling, and abject failure. He is no leader, after all.
If exerting so much brute force on poor, desperate, and defenceless people already threatened by the coronavirus is the solution, countries earlier ravaged by the pandemic would have done more.
But they didn’t. Instead, they used the law to arrest and fine violators (More money to solve problems).
They also intervened with huge packages to relieve the people financially and materially.
They’re giving hope and encouragement to the people, not tormenting them all the more. Or deceiving them. Where is the 100 million United States Dollars that Akufo-Addo said his government had set aside to tackle the pandemic?
Indeed, Akufo-Addo has confirmed my very poor opinion of him as a curse on Ghana. And he will be excised as such!!
Source: Michael Jarvis Bokor