Most Ghanaians have heeded the call by the government to support the fight to halt the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.
People all over the country, are now washing their hands regularly with soap under running water, using alcohol-based hand sanitizers to rub their hands frequently, while refraining from handshaking and keeping physical distances.
People are also now wearing face and nose marks and those who don’t have urgent things to do in town, have been staying home to avoid contracting and spreading the virus.
Again, entrepreneurs and businessmen have also responded to the President’s call for the local production of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs).
This has resulted in abundance on the local market, hand sanitizers, nose and face masks, liquid soaps, Veronica buckets, tissue papers, and other detergents, which are being used by the majority of the people to protect themselves against the disease.
Commercial drivers have also agreed to reduce the number of passengers in their vehicles as a way of promoting physical distancing in their vehicles.
There are however, other people who see the outbreak of the virus as spiritual and therefore, want spiritual or religious intervention to stop the further spread of the disease in Ghana.
This category of people believes that, the pandemic is a punishment by God for the sins mankind had committed against Him.
It is therefore important that the world seeks the face of God, confess sins and ask for forgiveness.
One of such persons is Opanin Akwasi Yeboah, aka, Juaben Yeboah Koree, a native of Asante Effiduase, in the Sekyere East District of Ashanti.
The 75-year-old man, who paints barrels to earn a living travelled about 40-kilometres long journey from Effiduase to the Ashanti Regional offices of the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi, to put across what he described as “my poor man’s ideas and suggestions to the government”.
According to him, the pandemic, which was claiming millions of lives and disorganized the socio-economic lives of the world, is not just a disease.
“My son, this pandemic is not just a disease. Some have happened in the Bible before. Do you remember the story of Jonah? When the ship was about to sink, he remembered that he had sinned against God by refusing to go to where God had directed him to go. Jonah asked the captain of the ship to throw him into the sea and when that was done, the storm stopped”.
Opanin Yeboah cited several other instances in the Bible and said “it is time the President constituted a team of true and renowned men of God to pray fervently to God to tell us our sins and seek for forgiveness”.
He was of the firm belief that, that was the only way this pandemic can go away and restore Ghanaians to their normal self.
Opanin Yeboah said though scientific knowledge was important in fighting the virus, the spiritual aspect could not be discounted.
He appealed to the President to give a little ear to his suggestion and constitute a team of ministers to intercede on behalf of the country and see what God could do.
Source: GNA | Ghana