Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Balgbin, has lamented the myths that surround the Coronavirus pandemic among the general Ghanaian populace.
He noted that people are demanding evidence of the disease because it appears to many as virtual reality. He charged the government to provide such graphic evidence of the dead and the sick.
“We need shock therapy in the situation of this nature to wake the people up from slumber and to make them know that COVID-19 is real,” he stated.
The Nadwoli/Kaleo MP made the call when he contributed to a statement by the Minister of Health on the current situation of the COVID-19.
According to him, education on the disease has not gotten down well and thus prompting people to question the reality of the disease.
He argued that it is difficult to believe just the numbers being put out by government officials including the Health Minister and stressed that the confirmed cases, the recoveries, and deaths are mere announcements and not supported by solid evidence.
He said, “The people we are leading want to see. In fact, I want to see on TV some evidence of death and admissions. When you state this number of people are dead and people do not see any evidence of that…”
“I am giving you feedback, it is not from me, and as leaders and government what we do here is to give you feedback so you don’t need to be emotional as if someone does not believe you. It is just feedback I am giving.”
According to the Deputy Speaker, many people he has interacted with are claiming they have not seen any evidence of the deaths and infections apart from what they are told by the government.
He stressed that the strategies being implemented by the government in the fight against COVID-19 should be determined by the situational trends and the nature of Ghanaians.
According to him, he was expecting the government to have applied shock therapy by now to awaken the senses of Ghanaians to the dangers of the virus.
“Mr. Speaker, it is still not down there because people do not understand. They claim it is a white man’s disease and comes only from foreign lands and affects only the big people and they are not affected.”
“So we need to up our game in educating our people about COVID-19,” he stressed.
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By Uthman A. Marani/Frontpageghana.com/Ghana
