NPP Primaries: Social distancing on holiday

Some delegates of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Saturday threw caution to the wind and forgot that the country is in a fierce battle against an invisible but dangerous force, Coronavirus.

There were fights, groups gathered and mass jubilation which if God does not intervene can increase the already ballooned COVID-19 figures in the country.

Some were even hugging out of excitement when their preferred candidates won.

Ghana is currently the fourth highest in Africa and already people have even forgotten that there is a virus lurking in the corner.

NPP Primaries

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) held its Parliamentary primaries on Saturday, June 20, ahead of the 2020 general elections.

Reports from Peace FM correspondents across the country indicated that most of the polling centres had put in place measures to ensure delegates washed their hands.

At all the centres, officials there insisted that ‘no mask no entry’.

Social distancing

Social or physical distancing means keeping 1m space between each other.

However, a lot of people in Ghana are not adhering to this protocol and it was evident during the primaries.

Even though most of them were wearing their nose masks, there was no social distancing, same attitude as shown in our markets and other public places.

This raises a lot of questions and fears especially as Ghana edges closer to election 2020.

There is a saying now, should life come to a standstill because of COVID? Well….

Using the NPP primaries as a case study; Ghana needs to up its game in the fight against Coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Ghana is going to witness another mass exercise, the compilation of a new voters’ register, beginning June 30.

Some have expressed misgivings about the exercise suggesting that it can escalate the number of infections. Looking at how delegates amassed at polling centres during the recently held primaries; do they have a point?

Is it really safe to conduct the voters’ registration exercise looking at our inability to control crowds and emotions?

Per the constitution of Ghana, the December 7 election will have to come on at all cost . . . but how are we going to control people’s emotions, avoid fights and confrontations between anxious political agents?

The questions can go on and on...

Below are some pictures from the primaries: