From the police officers assigned to ensure the enforcement of the lockdown to the very last person on the street, is complaining about how they dislike meals been distributed by the government, as part of efforts to take care of citizens against the novel Covid-19 pandemic.

While others cry over the protein accompanying the meals as unappreciative, some say the boiled rice was as hard as corn grains or rocks, hence rejected it.

One of such videos that has gone viral on social media, was a lady believed to in her advance age, saying she is a native and resident of Nkawie, a town in the Ashanti region, and complaining bitterly about a boiled rice that was distributed to them.

Another viral video also was about some guys who said they were called by the assembly member of the area to come with their ID cards to been given rice, and to their astonishment, it was not the expected bags of rice to be carried home rather boiled one packed in boxes, which to them was an insult of the century.

By that, they created a scene, which of course attracted cameras and citizen journalists to grant them interviews. Even children were also seen on social media lambasting the government for given them wrong food- “raw kenkye” without fish. So much confusion everywhere.

Videos continue to flood social media to the extent people fighting over food being distributed to them. The wording, social distance is not been observed because of how people queue out for the food being distributed by National Administration of Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO).

Some people have also accused the government of distributing food meant for the poor on party lines.

To say the least, is how our police officers have also joined chorus, screaming and yelling from all quarters demanding why they are being given food instead of the promised daily GHC100.00.

According to the police, the food is undesirable, unattractive, small in quantity and tasteless, therefore, wanted the world to know how cruel, wicked and inhumane their leaders are.

I finds surprising because a state that is in a middle of crisis of disease would have its security officers and citizens on the streets ‘crying’ over food than the real challenge confronting them.

 Although I cannot hold a brief for the government, I am also aware that human beings are the only creature on earth who are difficult to please.

Notwithstanding this, I would not also support or condone any wrongness by state officials against the citizens or even against our officers in uniform because they are sacrificing their lives to ensure law and order.

I, however, wants to find out whether the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MGCSP) prior to answering  consulted the ‘vulnerable’ groups aka female head posters (Kayayee) before converting the allocated GHC10.00 per person a day into food and how many meals will that provide a day?

I am interested to know why this had become an issue because there was a news item that Kayayee have gone back to the streets and marketplaces looking for business of helping people to carry their loads.

Their one number reason was that the one-time meal being provided by the government was insufficient and cannot sustained them throughout the day, hence had to go out against the lockdown order to make some money to feed themselves.

Hitherto this position that they have taken, the Executive Instrument that described some services as essential workers, prohibits others including Kayayee from engaging in their activities.

Meanwhile survival is crucial at this critical moment, when every other business indirectly had been affected by the plague of Covid-19 and these are a group of individuals who have been affected by absolute poverty.

Since majority of them migrated from the northern part of Ghana to seek greener pasture in the south, specifically the capital Accra, they have no place of abode for which, the street, marketplaces and other open spaces are where they call home.

This is to suggest that since they do not have any permanent place of residence and had to rely merely on food venders or street foods for survival, adhering to the harsh conditions of the partial lockdown would might be impossible.

It worth noting that Kayayee and other non-skill working population- hawkers- fall in the category of low income and what is described as “Hand to mouth”, thus living on daily wages.

My other concern has to do the ration been given to the police assigned to ensure that the public respected the lockdown and other protocols to ensure there were no gatherings of persons.         

To be frank, the police are ‘crying’ louder than the widow. This is a bit confusing because from what I know our officers go through almost half a year training, which their meals are even controlled by the training school.

I have heard that stories like during training they are not even served salt or the content is reduced in their meal.

So practically, they have been built to withstand conditions of this nature, therefore, why are they complaining or was it because their leaders did not anticipated the challenge ahead and promised them the monetary incentive.

Just thinking aloud. If not assignments of this sort, we can all agree that is not a party or a buffer that they can be served with Irish cream and spiced grilled turkey or chicken.

This is not to say that I am disrespecting our men and women in blue-black uniform, but only to understand what is happening. Also, whether that those at the herm of the police administration, you know, just do not want spend that much on their men and women who are enforcing the law at the peril of their lives.    

Since the issue is so dicing, I would like to plead with the police administration to properly engage the personnel so that we can all win this battle against Covid-19 pandemic together.

As it stand, there are more issues to deal with after the virus. One thing that the virus has exposed, is how poorly the country’s plans were. Therefore, the way forward for this country should be planning. We should plan so that in an event of this nature we are not taken off guard like what Coronavirus has done to us.

It is better we plan to fail than fail to plan at all!    

By Bernice Bessey