The Progressive People’s Party (PPP) is blaming President John Mahama for the death of the over 80 people who have died of cholera.
The PPP is convinced that the failure of the President and his government to properly address the sanitation problem in the country has caused the outbreak.
According to them, the refusal of refuse collection companies to keep the city clean in May is the cause of the cholera epidemic.
City authorities had a torrid time dealing with waste collection because the only landfill site that serviced Accra and Tema at Kpone was shut down.
The situation left mountains of rubbish sitting in people’s homes, streets and offices prompting health experts and environmentalists to warn of a possible cholera outbreak.
The PPP’s spokesperson on health, Felix William Ograh recalled that “not too long ago, we all had a problem of garbage collection, garbage collectors going in strike for not being paid per the terms of the contract entered with the government.”
He chastised the President for his government’s reactionary tactics at handling pertinent social and national issues.
“Four months down the line, we’ve been hit with the cholera epidemic and now you find the President running all over the place, cleaning the community and all that. Must it get to that point?” he asked.
Mr. Ograh pointed out that if the government had settled its accrued debt with the waste management companies, there would have been no outbreak of cholera.
He however admitted that there are multiplicity of factors which contribute to the cyclical outbreak of cholera but he maintained that the government is not being proactive in dealing with public health and environmental issues.
“All this has to do with environmental sanitation, so if there is garbage that is supposed to be collected, and hasn’t been collected, what do you expect?”
He accused the government of adopting “a propaganda approach” at protecting citizens from the cholera outbreak.
The PPP is therefore admonishing the President to take responsibility for the cholera outbreak which now seems out of control.
10,000 cases have been recorded so far with almost 100 deaths.
Government is seeking an intervention from the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent further deaths and avoid further infections.
The government is also providing more medical supplies to hospitals to combat the disease while local assemblies in the affected regions are taking steps to ensure the environment is sanitized.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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