Queen Mother of Osudoku calls for inclusion of queen mothers in coronavirus fight

Paramount Queen Mother of the Osudoku Traditional Area and President of the Greater Accra Queen Mothers Association has urged government to collaborate more with queen mothers in its efforts to combat the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

Nana Amponsah Dokua III while expressing the commitment of queen mothers to join the national efforts against the disease, called on government to collaborate with the traditional rulers in its efforts to ensure its success.

As part of this collaboration, she said government could collaborate with and include the queens in the distribution of relief items to the poor and vulnerable in society.

The Paramount Queen Mother called for more support for queen mothers to enable them effectively contribute their quota in the COVID-19 efforts.

He said this kind of cooperation would encourage the queen mothers and other traditional leaders to play effective roles in the fight against the pandemic.

“I’m entreating the government to involve the traditional authorities [in the fight against COVID-19] so that we can also play our roles meaningfully to help it to stop the spread of the pandemic,” she said.

Nana Amponsah Dokua III made the call as she presented covid19 relief items to some health facilities and the needy and vulnerable in the Osudoku Traditional Area.

The queen mother said the donations formed part of her support for the fight against the covid-19 in the traditional area.

The items including covid-19 prevention items, PPEs and assorted food items to the poor and vulnerable were intended to help efforts to combat the virus as well as provide relief for affected residents.

Many continue to face economic hardships as a result of the pandemic and the queen’s assistance was in response to difficulties currently being experienced by most people resulting mainly from the interruption in commercial activities.

The President of the Greater Accra Queen Mothers Association questioned the rationale behind stigmatizing patients or suspected infected persons of the coronavirus disease and called on the general public to desist from such practices.

She urged the public to be sympathetic towards patients and survivors of the disease and avoid any kind of discrimination and stigmatization.

Her call comes in the wake of reported cases of stigmatization against many families and patients living with the disease.

She said Ghanaians should end such discrimination because the infection alone was a traumatic experience, and stigmatization infected persons would make it worse.

“Stigmatization is bad so accept covid-19 victims,” said.

District Head of Osudoku, Madam Benedicta Adawuti on her part expressed concern over the blatant disregard for safety protocols by okada riders operating in the area.

The district head maintained that the refusal to heed these protocols if not checked, had the propensity to derail the fight against the COVID-19 in the district as there was the risk of transmission through the manner of loading passengers.

Nana Amponsah Dokua III expressed her profound gratitude to the Lordina Foundation, the Member of Parliament for Shai Osudoku, Linda Obenewaa Ocloo, and former Presiding Member for the Shai Osudoku Distrct Assembly, Jonathan Kwabla and other queen mothers and friends for their immense support for her charity work.