Is the politicization of COVID-19 necessary?

As things continue to unfold in a global pandemic era, political big wigs and some party faithful refuse to let go of petty politicking.

People are beginning to question the essence of needless political arguments in the wake of a global health crisis.

It looks as though the world is facing a two-fold crisis: first, a pandemic threatening to ravage public health systems around the globe if governments and individuals fail to enforce and adhere to strict social distancing; second, an epidemic of false information, in which anyone gets to say anything, credible or not, to advance personal agendas.

Certainly, political parties are doing a terrible disservice to the public by politicizing the pandemic. As we all know by now, COVID-19 is a life and death issue, and not a fodder for scoring political points.

This is in contrast with the World Health Organization (WHO) directives, as the Head of the global body has advised that the COVID-19 pandemic should not be politicized because unity is the “only option” to defeat the disease.

WHO has also recommended, it is important for nations to work across party lines and across religious lines, instead of unnecessary finger pointing.

The opposition National Democratic Congress has accused the ruling party, NPP, for taking some decisions in the political interest of the party. One of such, (as claimed by the NDC) was the President’s decision to lift the three week lockdown at a time when it was absolutely needless, considering the fact that we were recording higher figures of the novel coronavirus.

The decision to call off the partial lock down had a wrong timing as many Ghanaians felt the ruling party was exercising a high level of selfishness in its quest to compile a new voters register, a move met with great opposition.

The opposition NDC have also been hitting hard at Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for claiming the NPP and President Akufo-Addo were better managers of crisis than the NDC.

In response to the claim, ex-President Mahama said, “From 3,091 to 4,012 COVID19 cases within 24 hours; Government is certainly failing the people of Ghana. Fear gripped many homes last night when the latest confirmed cases were released.”

One other political figure who has kept the criticisms coming is Mr. Asiedu Nketiah, General Secretary of the NDC. He believes the Nana Addo-led government is being “untruthful” to Ghanaians. According to him, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and some of his appointees were all exposed to the virus after their visit to Norway.

He said, “We the NDC will not stop politicizing the issues until Nana Addo and his appointees are tested and make public their result just as other leaders in the world are doing. They are all exposed to the virus…the government cannot say our first case was recorded on March 12th.”

Meanwhile, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has admitted that the nation stands a real risk of losing focus and degenerating into partisan political banter while the real key issue of managing the pandemic is relegated to the background.

By; Satsyi Esene Courage