COVID-19: The lifting of the lockdown – election over existence? [Article]

The world has once again been faced with a situation that leveled all humans equally.  The battle of racial discrimination has far been buried beneath a common goal; global unity and Ghana is by no means exempted from the outcry.

The global pandemic has seen leaders make decisions that transcend mere geopolitics to humanitarian essence, decisions that have shaken some elements of Democratic governance either permanently or partially. This is indeed a trying moment where life has seen its greatest value over technology and science. Human right has suddenly for the first time become a secondary matter of necessity to the world.

However, before the three-week-long partial lockdown in Ghana, the national debate was within the parameters of the Electoral Commission and Political parties. It was noted that the incumbent government supported the idea of a compilation of a new voter register whereas other opposition parties especially the major one; National Democratic Congress vehemently opposed and still opposing the decision on so many grounds.

The debate even though it has gone beyond political organizations to civil society groups and to the general public, the E.C remained undetached from its decision also on so many grounds. The National Identification Authority ( NIA) went ahead in the midst of the outbreak of the pandemic registering people somewhere in the Eastern region at a time when the rule of social distancing became imperative; a move still in line with the compilation of new voter register.

In as much as the government is to be applauded for the frantic efforts in handling the outbreak, many Ghanaians believe the decision to lift the lockdown at the point where the curve remains at its peak is a threat to social existence especially when the Electoral Commission came out five days before the lifting of the band that they still stand by the decision to compile a new voter register; an entrenched position which doesn’t make sense to the ordinary citizen. It is beginning to make some sense. Even though this was said on the basis of probability owing to the existence of the lockdown, it appears, however, now, that the absence of the lockdown will lend full force to the enforcement of the decision to indeed compile the register.

One would ask what necessitated the lifting of the ban? Do we now found a vaccine for the virus that rendered even the world’s largest economy powerless and send thousands of innocent people to their early graves? Have we tested the general public for which we are sure the rate of infection is now minimal hence the decision or is it just for political gains?

Well, if you have soon seemed to forget about how the virus breakout in the country. From counting single two confirmed cases to now 1042 confirmed cases. By this, it implies that even if a single person got infected in a community within this Period, the whole country is at risk of counting more than another 1042 cases and some more 9 deaths.

The United States is still under lockdown, the U.K is still under lockdown, countries which are seen at the limelight as nailing some milestones in handling health issues are still under lockdown. What then is the reason for our opening?

If we argue that the statistics of recorded cases prior to the lockdown have been contained, traced, and under treatment, what about those who might have gotten infected during the last week of the lockdown perhaps with no symptoms yet? Isn’t the ban lift a viable ground for further spread of the virus?
If it is about regaining the economy, do we have to risk the lives of the people to build an economy of the dead?

There’s the need for a further explanation to understand why the ban was lifted and why the electoral commission insisted they will compile a new voter register albeit the social agitation. And why does the government seemed quite and reluctant in calling the E.C to the table of social concern rather than holding on to a legal mandate that is at the moment threatening the existence of citizens?

How well is the Electoral Commission prepared to gather and control a crowd of desperate patriotic people who wouldn’t want to be disenfranchised by not having a voter identity card? What then happened to the executive instrument on the ban on social gathering?

I opine, therefore, that if the government can ensure safety for people to register for votes then measures can equally be put in place for at least schools to resume for the future of our children.
Let me zip up by saying when we live we can build a stronger economy, with the life we can change our entire electoral system to a more technologically sophisticated system. It is only when we are alive can we work as citizens and not spectators.

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The writer, Patrick Kofi Akpese,  is a student journalist of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ). 

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