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by Alagi Yorro Jallow
Fatoumatta: In the best seasonal of Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart, two fears terrify Okonkwo, the son of the effeminate and lazy Unoka, ‘the fear of failure and weakness.’ Okonkwo could choose not to participate in the killing of Ikemefuna, who is the peace offering by the people of Mbaino village – for killing a daughter of Umuofia.
Fleeing from death’s machete blow, 18-year-old Ikemefuna runs towards Okonkwo for protection, crying, “My father, they have killed me!” Rather than look away as the blood-dripping innocent boy struggles in the jaws of imminent death, a frightened Okonkwo raises his sharp machete and hacks him to instant death!
One of the oldest men in Umuofia, Ogbuefi Ezeudu, visits Okonkwo and advises him not to take part in the impending killing because Ikemefuna has become fond of him. The ‘poor lad’ even carries Okonkwo’s stool and goatskin bag while accompanying him to ‘big village meetings or communal ancestral feasts.’ However, in the very hour that tests mortal reliability, Okonkwo fails Ikemefuna, choosing to glorify his perceived manliness over the life of the luckless boy.
After he kills Ikemefuna, the halo lighting up the path of Okonkwo’s chi to great personal achievements extinguishes, and he begins a descent into disgrace and disfavor. The story of Okonkwo and Ikemefuna is still told until today in Umuofia and beyond.
Like Okonkwo is to Umuofia, President Adama Barrow is the reigning custodian and guardian of the Gambian Constitution. President Barrow is even much more, and he is an ancient ruler of modern society. Moreover, as Ikemefuna ran to Okonkwo for protection, hundreds of thousands of Gambians trapped in poverty and vulnerable in the aftermath of the Coronavirus pandemic have called on the Adama Barrow, to help with a stimulus package and palliative to needy and deserving Gambians, following the global outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and its attendant lockdowns like his peers in Ghana, Senegal and Rwanda offered to their people. Unlike Okonkwo, who stabbed a dagger into the heart of the entrapped, pleading, and helpless ruthlessly showing lack of empathy to the people of Umuofia.
Fatoumatta: We are in a war. President Adama Barrow needs to be proactive. He needs strong central coordination. He needs palpable and robust coordination between the Central Government, the business community, civil society, the Diaspora community, including the opposition, as well as the Local Government’s authorities in a nonpartisan campaign to combat food insecurity and prevention of the coronavirus pandemic.
Fatoumatta: Adama Barrow needs leadership and enthusiasm through this coronavirus outbreak and “rally the republic” and appoint a COVID-19 Supply Czar, a pivotal figure to steer the Gambia out of this doldrums turning the crisis into opportunity. President Barrow must think fast to prevent the breakdown of law and order. This unimaginative copy and paste process will not cut it for the country. There must be palliatives for those under lockdown. That money and commodities should not be a sham and a corrupt stimulus relief. President Barrow must appoint a Supply Chain, Czar, for a successful campaign of stimulus and palliative measures for deserving Gambians.
Fatoumatta: Even more alarming, some experts and say even those still-not-yet-achieved goals are not close to enough. It appears that it may be time to think bigger. These are unprecedented times, and so we need to think on a scale that would previously be considered unimaginable. The cautionary tale at the moment is the Gambia. For weeks, public health officials have been enviously lauding its response to COVID-19 without palliative measures.
Fatoumatta: Many experts and leaders are beginning to coalesce around a set of benchmarks that could help determine when it might be safe to support their people. However, even though most areas of the Gambia are nowhere near achieving the goals necessary to do so, there has been a push for stimulus relief, and palliative cares people expecting from the Gambia Government.
Fatoumatta: President Akufo-Addo’s is clear where the buck stops, and he explains it plainly: “The oath of office I swore on January 7, 2017, demands that I dedicate myself to the service and well-being of the Ghanaian people. It is my job to protect you, and I am determined to do just that.” He has had his missteps. Some Ghanaian lawyers have, to give one example, questioned the constitutionality of the Imposition of Restrictions Act, a recently enacted law that President Akufo-Addo has used to impose a mini-lockdown – apparently – on the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area. Even so, Mr. Akufo-Addo has been careful to justify, plausibly, all the measures that he takes.
Fatoumatta: It helps that Akufo-Addo framed a clear goal and spelled out some luminous and achievable objectives. His goal is to build the resilience and self-reliance of Ghanaians so that they can beat back COVID-19 and minimize its impact. He has five objectives to that end: to limit or altogether stop the importation of the virus; to contain its spread; to provide adequate care for the sick; to limit the impact of COVID-19 on the social and economic life of Ghana and to expand domestic capabilities to cope with its ravages as well as deepen Ghana’s self-reliance.
Fatoumatta: President Akufo-Addo understands that without frontline staff, his best efforts will fall apart. He is implementing an array of impressive measures, first to keep frontline staff safe and second to fire up their motivation. As of last week, when he made his latest national address, Ghana had purchased and distributed large stores of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs): 350,000 masks; 558,650 examination gloves; 1,000 reusable goggles; 20,000 cover-alls; 7,000) N-95 respirators (for close-fit facial and efficient filtering of airborne particles); 500 waterproof gumboots; 2,000 reusable face shields; 2,000 gallons of hand sanitizers; 10,000 100ml pieces of hand sanitizers, and 500 shoe covers.
Fatoumatta: To cope with anticipated staff shortages and ease communications, Ghana recruits an additional one thousand community health workers and one thousand volunteers and provide a hundred pick-up trucks and two thousand, five hundred tablets.
Mr. Akufo hopes to keep frontline staff motivated: each health professional will get additional insurance for a total assured sum of US$60,000. Health workers will not pay income tax for April, May, and June. For four months starting in March, they will get 50 percent of their basic pay as a top-up. Contact tracers will be paid a daily allowance of US$25. Throughout the restriction period, the Government will provide buses to transport medical staff to and from work.
Fatoumatta: There is more. Starting last week, Ghana supports the local industry to produce Personal Protection Equipment – facemasks, head-covers, surgical scrubs, and gowns. This will offset local needs against a growing global shortage. The plan is to produce 150,000 masks a day for a target of 3.6 million Ghanaians.
These measures are being implemented in lockstep with safeguards for livelihoods. This, the Ghana Coronavirus Alleviation Programme, has three aims: offset the disruptive effects of COVID-19; relieve hardships, and rescue and revitalize the industry. Treasury has immediately released US$ 175 million to households and businesses. There is a soft loan program to lend up to US$100 million to Ghana’s Jua-kali sector with the one-year moratorium and two-year repayment. Moreover, now, the President said last week, there is a US$500 million facility to support the industry in the works.
Businesses in the airline and hospitality industries have been grateful for the 6-month moratorium on their loan repayments as well as the 2 percent reduction in interest rates effective April 1, 2020, that all will enjoy. Amidst a still-growing crisis, many Ghanaians will be happy that tax-filing dates have been moved from April to June. Mr. Akufo-Addo has also set up a private COVID-19 Fund, managed is chaired by a former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo.
Fatoumatta: To give the poor some relief, Mr. Akufo-Addo has ordered utilities- Ghana Water Company Ltd and the Electricity Company of Ghana- to ensure stable supply and not to disconnect anyone in default. The Government will pay all Ghanaians’ water-bills for April, May, and June. Water tankers – whether public and private- must supply water to all vulnerable communities.
Fatoumatta: It is all a remarkable example of clear thinking backed by concrete action. Mr. Akufo-Addo has realized that Ghana faces an existential threat from which it may not emerge. The point, it seems, is that Mr. Akufo-Addo, too, can make an excellent speech. The difference lies in this: that as Adama Barrow makes all the right moral pitches, Mr. Akufo-Addo canvasses all the right responses. If only Mr. Adama Barrow would reach for the phone and give President Akufo-Addo a call.
