Ghana News
Don’t use COVID-19 platform to campaign – Manasseh Azure blasts Akufo Addo
Ace investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni has written an article to the president of Ghana following his promise to build some 88 district hospitals during his 8th address to the nation.
Dear Mr President,
We are not out of the woods yet, so do not be distracted by the thoughts of December 7. When you turn that hallowed platform into a 2020 campaign podium, people will begin to treat what you say with scorn. I’m not saying you cannot campaign. After being reminded by your opponents that the arsenals of your warfare have been provided by them, I know how it feels. You must prove a point and nullify their “noise” about a certain visionary John Mahama but for whose health sector investment our nation would have been exposed like the anus of a fowl when the Covid-19 wind blew from behind us.
But, please, create a separate platform for that. To some of us who are yet to see any semblance of factories in our districts or dugouts in out villages, the promises you made last night sound like what a man promises a woman at the peak of his sexual ecstasy. Until we see those hospitals, we cannot put any weight on those promises.
So focus on leading us out of Covid-19. We must be alive to vote. See how to adequately resource Noguchi and other testing centres. Concentrate on how to get our frontline health workers the required PPEs to work because they complain bitterly. I have read an insightful article written by Bright Simons, which has convinced me that the pooled testing being improvised by Noguchi has the tendency to undermine the efficacy of the tests they are conducting. Even with those testing one sample at a time, I read somewhere that it’s not 100% efficient. So keep your eyes on the blazing ball.
Let us first remove the thorns pricking our feet before getting rid of those on our way, Mr. President. Our elders say it is only a fool to whom a proverb is explained. You are wise. So I’ll leave it here.
