Savannah News Online Reporting Only What Matters Most
Related Articles
11th April, 2020
Dear Mr. /Madam President
CUSTOMISED TOTAL LOCKDOWN (CTL) RECOMMENDED FOR AFRICA
I have the honour to seek your undivided attention on a matter of grave concern that has given meaning to a statement made on the eve of Ghana’s independence by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah “Our independence is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of Africa.”
In the whole-of-global effort to defeat COVID-19, all hands must be on deck. The unity of Africa must come alive as this virus challenges our very existence. COVID-19 is a smart virus that caught the world pants down as it reveals the real weaknesses of many systems and institutions. No country is safe and all must study the behaviour of the virus in other jurisdictions to customize their own approach in dealing with the pandemic.
Import-dependent countries like those in Africa cannot cut and paste the strategies adopted by the Eastern and Western World. The literature of pandemics posits that the curve of the disease must always peak before it flattens and finally drops to zero. Countries may influence the early peaking of the disease by many measures but what is common now with COVID-19 is LOCKDOWN.
Excellency, it is scary to count the number of lives lost during lockdown periods in Italy, Spain, France, United States to mention but a few. It is also amazing the huge contingency budgets that are committed by various countries to fight the pandemic.
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.
The deceased is a global leveler making nonsense of social classes. For us to outsmart the virus we must create an equal society at least for 6 months.
The hardest hit countries that seem to have peaked for now are Italy, France & Spain.
Country Confirmed cases %tage of Pop Death
Italy 147,477 0.25 18,849
Spain 158,273 0.34 16,081
France 124,869 0.19 13,197
(Source: www.worldometers.info accessed 0830 on 11th April, 2020)
Italy with a population of about 60million recorded 147,477 cases (0.25% of the population) with 18,849 deaths while Spain recorded 158,273 against a population of about 47million (0.34 of the population) with 16,081 deaths.
The underlying assumption of CTL is for all African Countries to plan with the worst case scenario of 0.4% of the population as a guide. For instance, GHANA (population of 30million) with an assumption of 0.4% will have to plan with a total figure of 120,000 people in mind.
Four incubation periods (14 x 4) of 56 days is also recommended as a special feature of CTL to aid budgeting. It’s instructive to note that no country will ever get the assumed total infected population at a go.
Several millions of US dollars are being sunk into relief packages across the world by various governments but the greatest relief will be to isolate disease-carrying individuals from the uninfected population.
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.
Having studied the handling of the pandemic by many countries, I have come to the conclusion that African countries with their existing economic challenges should consider locking down the virus and not the countries. This is referred to as CTL.
Steps to operationalize CTL
• Use the Armed Forces, the Police and Disaster Management Organisations to create Isolation Camps with inspirational names.
• Close all entry points (By land, sea and air) into the country.
• The ban on social gatherings must be strictly enforced over the CTL period
• Test all OPD cases for COVID-19
• Engage in aggressive contact tracing and testing
• All confirmed cases should be managed at designated Hospitals
• All suspected cases must immediately be transported to the Isolation Camps for a minimum of 14 days.
• Relief packages should be directed to the Isolation Camps.
• The rest of the population must consciously practice the necessary WHO protocols with a defined degree of freedom of movement.
• Hand washing and sanitizing points should be promoted by the State and other stakeholders across the country.
This is my little contribution towards creating a better Africa in particular and a safer world in general. I acknowledge that a lot has been done by many countries but there is room for improvement. May God continue to guide our steps and give us victory over this deadly virus that has exposed mankind’s need for more knowledge, unity, love and transparency.
Accept, Excellency, the assurance of my highest consideration and esteem.
…………..SIGNED…………………..
Supt (Rtd) Peter Lanchene Toobu
NDC Parliamentary Candidate
Wa West Constituency
Upper West Region, Ghana
West Africa
For further and better particulars on the concept you may contact me on the following;
• Email: toobu32@gmail.com
• Facebook: Peter Toobu
• WhatsApp: +233244087792
Distribution:
To All African Heads of State.
Flag Bearer, NDC, Ghana
All African Opposition Leaders
All Media Houses
