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By Fadi Dabbousi
I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news that Voltarians were going to be used as laboratory mice or guinea pigs for testing an Ebola vaccine. Ghana, an Ebola free haven, is now going to be dragged into infections, plagues and calamities. What at all was President John Mahama thinking when he sanctioned such nonsense in our midst?
But, then again, has the NDC’s case not always been one of the exploitation of the poor and neglected. Volta region is the stronghold of this party but a place that has been abandoned and left to wallow in its many problems. Ewes form over 65% of NDC supporters yet these people are poor and pitiful.
It is my strong conviction that in calling for volunteers for such a vaccine test, President John Dramani Mahama and his cabinet ministers must lead the pack. If it is true that such a trial has no grave consequences on the volunteers, then why must the president shy away?
Unfortunately, such vapid numbness has become the curse of John Mahama’s administration. Another question begging to be asked is, “why would the President not allow this test to be conducted on the people of his hometown, Bole”?
The core of this problem lies in the fact that in the event something goes wrong, we might have a plague on our hands. It would be more prudent having this test done on people of nations already afflicted with this disease rather than wilfully causing harm to the Ghanaian society that has, thus far, been free of Ebola since the unprecedented carnage that this disease unleashed in its wake on other neighbouring countries.
I heard with great disappointment the argument by a Ghanaian Doctor to the effect that our country would be a great loser if the decision to conduct the test in Ghana is reversed. How then does it figure that almost every sensible person is rejecting the very thought of such a criminal initiative? Since the honourable Speaker of Parliament boldly shouted out his frustration over such a Presidential decision, let me suggest a quick legislation to ban it against the will of our stubborn employee, Mr President.
This wicked initiative will be nothing less than catastrophic.
However, if government and the people of Volta Region insist, then my poor Ewe brethren must be quarantined. In fact that whole region must be quarantined until the results are adduced before the nation; and even then the quarantine must remain in effect for a similar period to make sure that it is safe again to reinduct the guinea pigs into the whole society.
I couldn’t believe it when I heard the news that Voltarians were going to be used as laboratory mice or guinea pigs for testing an Ebola vaccine. Ghana, an Ebola free haven, is now going to be dragged into infections, plagues and calamities. What at all was President John Mahama thinking when he sanctioned such nonsense in our midst?
But, then again, has the NDC’s case not always been one of the exploitation of the poor and neglected. Volta region is the stronghold of this party but a place that has been abandoned and left to wallow in its many problems. Ewes form over 65% of NDC supporters yet these people are poor and pitiful.
It is my strong conviction that in calling for volunteers for such a vaccine test, President John Dramani Mahama and his cabinet ministers must lead the pack. If it is true that such a trial has no grave consequences on the volunteers, then why must the president shy away?
Unfortunately, such vapid numbness has become the curse of John Mahama’s administration. Another question begging to be asked is, “why would the President not allow this test to be conducted on the people of his hometown, Bole”?
The core of this problem lies in the fact that in the event something goes wrong, we might have a plague on our hands. It would be more prudent having this test done on people of nations already afflicted with this disease rather than wilfully causing harm to the Ghanaian society that has, thus far, been free of Ebola since the unprecedented carnage that this disease unleashed in its wake on other neighbouring countries.
I heard with great disappointment the argument by a Ghanaian Doctor to the effect that our country would be a great loser if the decision to conduct the test in Ghana is reversed. How then does it figure that almost every sensible person is rejecting the very thought of such a criminal initiative? Since the honourable Speaker of Parliament boldly shouted out his frustration over such a Presidential decision, let me suggest a quick legislation to ban it against the will of our stubborn employee, Mr President.
This wicked initiative will be nothing less than catastrophic.
However, if government and the people of Volta Region insist, then my poor Ewe brethren must be quarantined. In fact that whole region must be quarantined until the results are adduced before the nation; and even then the quarantine must remain in effect for a similar period to make sure that it is safe again to reinduct the guinea pigs into the whole society.