For how long should the rural dwellers suffer the poisonous bite of coronavirus

The very moment the President of Ghana, H.E Nana Akuffo Addo announced to the general public the suspension and closure of all gatherings including Churches, Schools, meetings, etc, I had two phone calls from two different relatives asking me to come home even though at that time, the Board of Governors of my institution has not issued any directive as to what students should do following the directive of the President.

But since it is a university institution and it falls under the categories specified by the President, I would finally be at home in the long run. I decided to stay in school for a while since I was in the hostel but the kind of calls that were coming, I had no other option than to pack my things and come home.

Some thought kept on running on my mind that since the calls are becoming more than expected, then precautionary measures had been taken to combat the spread of this noble virus. I thought it wise that it would be safer to come home than on campus. When I finally arrived home, I was in tears to see my town which happens to be a District Capital as normal as it was before I left for school. I started asking myself several questions like;" Are my people not aware of this deadly pandemic in the country and others? "In fact, no one was adhering to any of the precautionary measures to help fight the spread of this noble virus. Eeii asem ben koraa ni,I soliloquy?

The saddest of it was when I went to the barbering salon to trim my hair but found out that there was no hand sanitizer or whatsoever. I curiously asked the Barber and his respond was; he doesn't even have money to feed his family and himself so which money should he use to buy the sanitizer at that inflated prices? I was sad for him but what would I do?

Upon the directives issued by the President amid the lockdown of some affected places in Ghana with coronavirus, some dwellers in these affected cities and towns had now remembered their old abandoned and divorced villages and towns and that is where they are moving to. This is the same thing that happened in some countries and now their spread is out of hand. If God does not intercede, the possibility of the same happening in our country is high.

The Question I'm asking now is, *Should we allow the Rural Dwellers to Suffer the poisonous bite of this COVID- 19?* Even though the Government is doing his best to control the spread of this virus by regularly updating the country on this virus and it precautionary measures, I'm sorry to say that those Rural Dwellers had heard nothing of this crusade and evangelism by the President, media houses, etc. I remember a village I once stayed with my late grandparents and started weeping for these village people because I knew they might not have heard it at all.

My humble plea to anyone who has read this article to please spread this news to other people that think it would rather be safe to stay in the village rather than the city due to the lockdown. The fact is that when this virus hit the village, it would be more dangerous than what we are seeing in the cities. I humbly plead with individuals, philanthropists, NGOs, and anyone in the country to do his/her best to solve the problem at hand.

The writer (Justice Phinehas Gyesi) can be reached through his email on [email protected] or call on 0546799899