On a number of occasions, countries across the globe have had cause to warn, and continue to warn their citizens against imminent terror attacks. The latest caution was the alerts by the United Kingdom and Canada in August 2017.  Not long after their alerts to citizens, terrorists struck in Burkina Faso, Ghana’s northern neighbour.

So far, no terror attack has occurred in Ghana.  The fake news of a terrorist attack at the Accra Mall, however puts Ghana’s emergency response plan/measures, if any, under the spotlight and a number of questions are begging for swift answers.

• Does Ghana have any specialised unit or force that will respond to a terror attack in any part of the country?

• If there is such a force or unit, have members received the requisite training on anti-terror operations?

• Is the unit or force adequately equipped to respond to a terror attack of any kind or it is also plagued with the same set of known logistical and resource challenges facing Ghana’s traditional security institutions?

• Where is the unit or force located?

• Is the unit or force part of the regular military, the police service or a separate entity on its own?

• How is the unit or force, if existent, funded?

• How will the unit or force have air transport capabilities  (Ability for a unit/force to be deployed by air) in view of serious challenges such as terrible road networks in many parts of the country, crippling traffic jams, poor response time, etc.

It is safe to say that Ghana is a country blessed with human and natural resources. The country, therefore, has so much potential to make huge strides in economy.  However, a single terror threat or attack can hugely affect the country’s economic progress. It will further shake investor confidence in Ghana.

The question to ask now is; Are our policy makers interested in protecting the country, and placing us on a path of unparalleled economic growth?

It must be pointed out that human security plays a key role in the growth of any economy. I will, however, not stray into explaining the technicalities involved. All I am tryingto ask is, are we prepared as a country to handle any unfortunate situation?

Let’s take for instance the recent Atomic Junction Gas explosion, which has claimed 7 lives so far, and injured some 132 people. From my perspective, two questions arise out of that tragedy. Firstly, did our emergency service providers respond adequately and in good time to the tragedy? Secondly, what existing safety protocols were deployed on the day to save lives? Answers to both questions, are what my friend, Ataa Gbeii, often responds to by shouting I don’t know.

In all honesty, I hold the view that our emergency services are not in the right shape to adequately handle massive disasters or emergency situations. Is it not odd that a day after the recent gas explosion, the 37 Military Hospital, a UN-certified medical facility, was asking for basic medical supplies to help treat fire victims who were rushed there from the scene of the incident?

Days later, I heard a medical officer from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana’s premier medical facility, lamenting “we don’t as a nation have a well-equipped facility to deal with disasters resulting from LPG.”

Also, in the aftermath of the explosion, people had virtually no safety protocols to observe in order to save lives; i.e. how to flee to safety. Even students from University of Ghana, whose residence were close, were seen running helter-skelter, resulting in avoidable injuries.

According to reports, speeding vehicles driven by panic-stricken drivers ran over a number of people fleeing from the scene of the disaster, resulting in injuries. If Ghana had robust safety protocols perhaps, the injuries and deaths recorded would have been fewer.

Some two weeks after the Atomic Junction LPG explosion, I have still not heard from the relevant security agencies as to how they intend educating the public on how to effectively respond to such emergencies in the future. The most sickening truth about the recent disaster is that police officers, with little or no education in emergency care and disaster management, were the first respondents. I only have two questions for whoever cares to read from the nation’s security apparatus:

1. Is the Police Service well-resourced to deal with these challenges?

2. Is there any structured training module for them on how to engage the general public in dealing with same?

While I wait for appropriate answers, I shudder to think of what the consequences would have been if there was massive terror attack on Ghana.

It is a pathetic fact that the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has been reduced to respondents who carry rice and oil to disaster scenes. How shocking!!!

While we consider these critical issues, let those at the helm of affairs know that the security threats to the country are many and varied and that we have gone past conventional security threats. We therefore have to act appropriately.

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By: Richard Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has rubbished Guinea’s claims that they have been granted permission to play their 2015 Afcon qualifiers at home.

Reports emerged on Monday that the Guinea Football Federation said they had been cleared to host games again after the deadly Ebola outbreak led to a temporary ban.

Federation spokesman Blaise Camara was quoted as saying on Monday that Caf has lifted the embargo on games in the country, where nearly 500 people have died in the West African Ebola crisis.

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According to quotes, Camara said Guinea can now host the Black Stars in Conakry in its next Group E qualifier next month.

This would have been a relief to the country, as they had to move their first home game to neutral Morocco.

Caf’s statement: “Contrary to recent false claims disseminated by a section of the media, to create the impression that the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) has granted Guinea the green-light to host matches at home.

“CAF wishes to affirm that the circular dated 12 August 2014 which stated that Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone cannot host matches on their territories due to the Ebola outbreak still holds.

“It was mentioned in the circular that a new assessment of the situation will be discussed in mid-September 2014 in consultation with the World Health Organization and the CAF Medical Committee.

“The CAF Executive Committee is scheduled to meet on 19-20 September 2014 at the African Union (AU) Headquarters in Addis Ababa, to decide on further precautionary measures with respect to countries hit by the Ebola outbreak.”

Guinea will play Ghana in a double header scheduled for October 10 and 15.

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by Gary Al-Smith/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @garyalsmith

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Sierra Leone had asked for permission to play some of its African Cup qualifiers in Ghana because of the Ebola outbreak at home.

The Confederation of African Football said in a statement on Tuesday that Sierra Leone indicated it wanted to move its home ties in the final qualifying round to Ghana.

Caf said the request had been made to Ghanaian authorities and ‘necessary reviews are being undertaken.’

As Citi Sports reported earlier, the GFA have now responded, asking their West African neighbours to deal with the matter at a governmental level.

Statement in full

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has received a request from our brothers at the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) seeking to play their 2015  Africa Cup of Nations qualifying home matches in Accra.

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The meeting – being held in Geneva, Switzerland – is expected to last two days and will decide whether to declare a global health emergency.

That could involve imposing travel restrictions on affected areas.

The outbreak began last February and has since spread to four African countries, claiming nearly 900 lives.

It comes as leading infectious disease experts have called for experimental treatments to be offered more widely.

Two US aid workers who contracted Ebola in Liberia appear to be improving after receiving an unapproved medicine before being evacuated back to the US.

But it is not clear if the ZMapp drug, which has only been tested on monkeys, can be credited with their improvement.

Prof Peter Piot, who co-discovered Ebola in 1976, Prof David Heymann, the head of the Centre on Global Health Security, and Wellcome Trust director Prof Jeremy Farrar said there were several drugs and vaccines under study for possible use against Ebola.

“African governments should be allowed to make informed decisions about whether or not to use these products – for example to protect and treat healthcare workers who run especially high risks of infection,” they wrote in a joint statement.

The World Health Organization (WHO), “the only body with the necessary international authority” to allow such experimental treatments, “must take on this greater leadership role”, they said.

“These dire circumstances call for a more robust international response,” they added.

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Source: BBC

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The experts are from the World Health Organization and the Doctors Without Borders charity.

This comes after six suspected Ebola patients were taken out of hospitals by their families, defying doctors. One of the patients later died amid fears that the virus could spread, a local health official said.

Nearly 200 people have died of Ebola in West Africa since an outbreak was first reported in Guinea in March. There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola – one of the world’s deadliest viruses.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage
• Fatality rate can reach 90%
• Incubation period is two to 21 days
• There is no vaccine or cure
• Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery
• Fruit bats are considered to be the natural host of the virus

Why is so dangerous

But people have a better chance of surviving if it is identified early and they receive medical attention.

Ebola can kill up to 90% of those infected and is passed on through contact with the fluids of infected people or animals, such as urine, sweat and blood.

‘Aggressive’ removal

The medical teams are expected to arrive in a remote part of Sierra Leone later on Thursday.

Just touching the body of an infected person can cause deadly transmission, so the experts will be covered from head to foot in protective clothing, the BBC’s Mark Doyle reports.

But they are facing another obstacle even before they start work, following the removal from a clinic of the six suspected patients.

Dr Amara Jambai, the director of disease prevention and control at Sierra Leone’s health ministry, told the BBC that staff at the clinic in Koindu town in eastern Sierra Leone had tried to stop the patients from being removed.

However, the families ad been “aggressive” as they took their relatives away, he said.

The families apparently feared their loved ones would die a lonely death.

But they also appear not to have understood the grave danger they have put themselves and their communities in by trying to take care of the patients themselves.

The relatives’ love for their sick relatives may end up killing them all, our correspondent adds.

Dr Jambai said two people had so far died of Ebola in Sierra Leone, and not four as previously reported.

Guinea has been worst-affected, with 258 suspected and confirmed cases of Ebola, including 174 deaths – 146 of which have been laboratory-confirmed positive.

In Liberia, there have been 12 suspected cases, with nine deaths.

Source: BBC

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