I have been closely observing the conversation and campaigns in the few days of the election in Ghana.
It does appear, unlike the USA, the management of COVID-19 hasn’t been a contentious political discourse in Ghana. There are those who say, Trump lost the election largely because of his management of the pandemic.
When you listen to Biden and Harris’s campaign messages, it was all they talked about. So far in the run-up to the election in Ghana, the opposition has not been able to make any political capital out of its management. We haven’t heard criticism and bashing of the leadership for handling the pandemic. Arguably, it appears the consensus is that, for the biggest challenge in the life of this Government, the pandemic, they scored an A. They have been excellent.
In the beginning, we had mistrusted. We were skeptical about almost every decision especially, whether it was wise to lift the lockdown. Then there was the debate over whether or not it was wise to allow the children to return to school to write their exams. Some actually said, about half of the children will die like fowls by the time they are done with their exams. We were called to follow the example of Nigeria, a country that cancelled their examination and eventually reversed their decision to get their students to write the final examination.
Amid all the skepticism, the leader required of us to trust him. Of course, many still didn’t because, maybe, he was just another African leader who is not to be trusted. More so, you had an opposition who were extremely and understandably critical, sowing seeds of mistrust every day.
But, in the end, there is a general consensus that, the leader has not performed creditably. Despite the 300+ people we have lost, there have been over 50,000 recoveries with over 70 active cases.
Reliefs of all kinds have been provided to cushion the ordinary Ghanaian and the big business tycoons in the country. The media, arts, health workers almost everyone has had some support.
I believe, in the life of every leader, there comes a major challenge, probably the best test of your leadership quality. And all leaders in the world, I believe, have gone through this test, especially with the outbreak of the pandemic. How well they were going to manage the pandemic to protect lives and livelihood was indeed the test.
In the case of this government, so far, the consensus appears to be that they have passed. The recent University of Ghana survey has proven that Ghanaians are content with Nana Akufo-Addo’s administration.
The Akufo-Addo government has truly not been a perfect government. Yes, It did not get everything right. But two things have stood out, its sensitivity and commitment to resolving the basic challenges of its people. We have seen some progress and we are overcoming if not overcome, the biggest challenge this country has ever faced, the covid19 pandemic. And for that, I’m satisfied with the call for continuity.
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The writer, Razak Musbau is a communication strategist.