The Catholic Church in Ghana through its charity organization, Caritas Ghana, has put in place a nine-month Emergency Response Plan with the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, to ensure that the poor and vulnerable receive critical and basic services during this difficult time of coronavirus pandemic.
“Caritas Ghana is working with the Caritas Organizations of the affected Dioceses (Accra and Kumasi) to mobilize humanitarian services for the Homeless and most vulnerable who will be hardest hit by the lockdown, Mr. Samuel Zan Akologo, Executive Secretary of Caritas Ghana said in an interview on March 28, 2020.
He noted that “in the short term, Parishes in Accra are being approached to assist with places for shelter and feeding centers, said
On March 27, the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo nationwide televised address, announced that movements in some urban areas in the country especially Accra and Kumasi will be restricted from Monday, March 30, 2020 for two weeks as part of government measures to control the spread of the coronavirus.
According to the Caritas Ghana Executive Secretary, “it is in times of humanitarian crises like this that the dignity of the poor must be upheld, promoted and protected,” noting “Caritas Ghana invokes its safeguarding policy to ensure that no harm is done to this social segment of great deprivation.”
He stated that “Caritas Ghana staff are coordinating all our efforts from their respective homes while arrangements would be made with the Security Agencies to ensure access to the poor to provide them with critical services for their survival.”
Explaining the main objective of the Response Plan to Newswatchgh.com, he said it was to contribute to the national response to COVID-19 pandemic, support all Catholic health facilities to manage COVID-19, reach the faithful with spiritual and psychological support, and ensure basic needs support to vulnerable persons and households in a restricted environment (lockdown).
Mr. Akologo said it was also to engage government proactively to provide resources and policy direction to managing COVID-19 and to target communities with genuine information on COVID-19 for social behaviour change.
“It is a time for us all to demonstrate courage, hope and trust in the Lord so that we can, in turn, share this with those who are already despaired by poverty and deprivation, he indicated.
In a comment on his Facebook page on March 29 monitored by newswatchgh.com, Mr. Akologo lamented how Kayayei (Female Head Porters) were fleeing Accra and Kumasi in droves to escape the lockdown of the two cities due to COVID 19.
This, he said, seems a rational survival strategy which can also pose a serious health threat in the wake of the COVID 19.
“Now this situation of mass exodus of people who clearly anticipate a more dire impact of the lockdown on their survival, must alert us to take actions to safeguard them and their destination communities, the Caritas Ghana head said.
He added that “I am sure that Government may have plans to support this and other social segments already living life of dire deprivation.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Akologo has hinted to newswatchgh.com that Caritas Ghana has begun earnest mobilization efforts to target such vulnerable groups in the affected cities with basic needs support, but according to him, unfortunately, such plans may most likely be unknown to them yet.
According to him, “they taking their own actions to mitigate their circumstances. Needless blaming them, he thought, but to him instead, “we must think about what can be done immediately to not worsen the health implications of their mass movements.”
“For instance, the various transport stations of origin, transit and destinations must be encouraged to embark on continuous education of all passengers from these two cities (Accra and Kumasi) to observe personal isolation on their arrival to minimize contacts with the public,” he noted.
He added that “I wonder if these could also be targeted for testing, as part of the tracing for community-level infections.”
