Editorial: COVID-19 safety protocols thrown to the dogs? (II)

As a follow-up to yesterday’s editorial comment on the way politicians and the citizenry have thrown the Covid-19 social distancing and health protocols to the dogs during political campaigns, with the two major political parties – the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) – being the major culprits, The Chronicle will like to explore new avenues to help them run their campaigns and avoid mass rallies.
We should not become complacent just because the figures of Covid-19 infections are declining by the day. For instance, residents of Spain’s north-eastern Catalonia region had to endure new restrictions due to a surge in the recorded daily Covid-19 infection figures, after the relaxation of the restrictions imposed when the pandemic first ravaged the nation.
The Chronicle will like to serve notice that we cannot, as a nation, take things for granted during this Covid-19 pandemic, as is being recklessly displayed by the two major parties, NPP and NDC, during political campaigns.
For some politicians, the campaigning season is one of the few times they have to get up close and personal with the public, as they try to persuade people to vote them into office. Rallies are the lifeblood of election campaigns, and they are one of the main ways politicians are able to get their message out to the electorate.
But the global pandemic has turned everything on its head, and politicians must begin to think outside the box during the campaign period.
The use of online campaign must be the order of the day, for instance, by organising virtual town halls, social media live events, socially distanced house-to-house visits, as well as massive use of the electronic (TV and radio) and print media.
Political rallies held online would have been unthinkable a few months ago, yet, this is what we have to contend with, as the country gears up for its general elections on 7th December. Although President Akufo-Addo has lifted the partial lockdown and relaxed some of the restrictions, the social distancing rules and strict observance of health protocols are still in place.
For the politicians who are campaigning to seek our mandate for political power, it is incumbent on them to do the right things during this campaign period, and show that they, indeed, deserve our vote. It will be ironic for someone seeking your vote to come and change your condition, to be seen rather engaging in reckless action that will lead to people massing together and putting them in danger of getting Covid-19. Those who seek to lead us must live exemplary lives.
However, with the political campaign season going online, the major problem will be the cost of data. There have been lamentations over the high cost of internet services in Ghana. The Chronicle will urge the Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful to adopt measures to bring the cost down to enable a lot of Ghanaians to use the internet at affordable prices.
A research finding released in October 2018 by the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) showed that more than 2.3 billion people live in countries where just one gigabyte of mobile data is not affordable, and Ghana’s situation is not an exception.
Let the political parties and politicians begin to think outside the box during this campaign season, bearing in mind that with the Covid-19 pandemic, we are not out of the woods yet.

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