A civil Society Group, Socialist Forum of Ghana, has attributed the country’s current crisis in COVID-19 case management and the rapid increase in infections to a breakdown of leadership.

In a statement signed by its Standing Committee Secretary, Yaw Appiah-Kubi, the organisation noted that despite having had indications of the current situation some 9 months ago, political, traditional, corporate, and religious leaders, and social elite in the country knowingly put their parochial interests above that of society and did not use the low infection rates recorded in mid-2020 to plan for more challenging times.

“The second half of 2020 was characterized by irresponsible electioneering, with political party leaders crisscrossing the country inducing people to congregate in super-spreader events to promote their respective bids for a leadership they were palpably not showing. This was followed by equally irresponsible Christmas and New Year celebrations - church services, nightclubbing, society-weddings, and other ‘Society’ partying – even as stories of a mounting death-toll were seeping out of our hospitals into the public domain illustrated by several high-profile deaths. Despite this awareness, 2021 begun with the terrible example set by our Parliamentarians in the early hours of 7 January then the thoughtless partying of the victorious political elite. And now in the last week of January with all our ICUs and mortuaries overrun and with the highest infection and mortality rates ever, the State continues to look on while super spreader events are organised with reckless abandoned.”

SFG adds that the president's decision to reopen schools at a time when a mutated variant of the virus had made it more infectious and lethal can only be described as baffling.

“What is completely baffling, however, is that in his first “fellow Ghanaians” speech our newly reinstalled President, fresh from his super-spreader celebrations, and aware that the virus has mutated in ways that make it much more infectious and lethal - especially for children, has reopened all schools including primary schools exposing our children, and thus young mothers,” the statement said.

Whilst calling government and leadership in the country to pay immediate attention to the scientific and medical community, the group outlined some measures it said must be prioritized for effective management of the current situation.

Among other things, the group says government must ensure adequate dissemination of information about the virus and ensure implementing physical distancing protocols and also implement full lockdowns of “hot-spot” communities and districts, ban on both religious and secular gatherings, closure of schools and restrictions on the number of people allowed in vehicles.

Read the full statement below: