Sharing food to vulnerable crowds dangerous – Toobu warns

A former secretary to the office of the Inspector General of Police Superintendent retired Peter Toobu has expressed concerns over the sharing of food in crowds in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic.

“The idea of distributing food both cooked and uncooked by people who do not carry COVID-19 Test Clearance Certificates is worrying. Unconsciously creating crowds in the name of sharing cooked food to the vulnerable rubbishes social distancing protocols.

Also, other social reliefs worth millions of dollars can serve as an opening for corruption in not very disciplined financial systems. All these will come to haunt us in the post-COVID-19 world,” he wrote in an open letter.

His argument comes at a time the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, has earmarked funds to provide dry and cooked food for clusters of the poor and vulnerable hard-hit by the partial lockdown in greater Accra and Greater Kumasi.

According to the Wa West parliamentary candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress, the approach of African Countries like Ghana, in dealing with the Coronavirus Pandemic, does not reflect the continents peculiar challenges.

Opposed to the locking down of entire populations to prevent spread of the virus, Mr. Toobu is proposing that African governments rather lock down the virus in isolation centers where the continents meager relief resources can be better targeted.

He is projecting that with a population of 30 million, Ghana can conveniently use world averages of 0.4% infection rates, to plan for isolation centres which can hold 120 thousand persons.

The Security Capo wants government to use the Armed Forces, the Police and Disaster Management Organizations to create Isolation Camps with inspirational names.

He warns however that easing the lockdown without observing WHO protocols on containment, personal hygiene, aggressive testing and closure of borders, will prove challenging.

He cautioned that African countries will do themselves in if they ‘blindly copy’ containment modules adopted by the Western and Eastern countries where the pandemic continues to wreck lives in thousands.

“The already indebted African continent can only successfully replicate the Eastern or Western Module through more loans that will hurt and haunt us in more than one generation after COVID-19.

The time for Africa not to blindly copy is now. The time to innovate a customized solution to a global problem in Africa is also now,” his admonition read,” the letter stated. COVID-19 cases in Ghana have now hit 408 with eight deaths according to the Ghana Health Service.