Guilty of Ebola until proven innocent?

Because of the dreaded Ebola virus, Sierra-Leone’s national football team will, unfortunately, be playing both of their qualifying matches for the 2019 African Cup of Nations, AFCON, against Cameroon in Yaoundé, on October 11 and 14 respectively.

While Cameroon still has a fair chance of fighting the virus to a standstill, Sierra-Leone, Liberia and Guinea Conakry have lost at least 3,000 of their citizens to the killer virus, in a matter of months. The social life and economies of these West African nations is, to say the least, bedridden. Because of Ebola!

A few months ago, the Government of Cameroon adopted what was passed off as proactive measures to ward off the quick killer. Borders with Nigeria, a nation of 170 million citizens that had recorded but a handful of Ebola victims, courtesy of a victim who flew in, unsuspectingly, from Liberia, were hastily closed. They are yet to be reopened, even though this neighbouring nation has, so far, been given a clean bill of health by the competent world bodies.

Needless to emphasize the concomitant negative effect this border shut-down has had on the Cameroonian economy, especially, considering the regular heavy volume of both formal and informal business known to go on between the two states.

While The Post is by no means, making a diplomatic case for Nigeria, it is clear that whereas, this country and others in Africa and the world are employing verifiable, credible and practical ways of chasing off or stopping the virus, Cameroon has, from all indications, resorted to fiddling; toying around until such a time that the nation is caught pants down.

This is why: The media in other parts of the world are being lavishly employed to acquaint the masses with useful education and other tips on what the Ebola virus is, how it manifests, how to avoid it, what to do in case it manifests itself and all that.

Promos and other tips are daily inundating bill boards, newspapers, radio and television channels and other forms of mass and inter-personal communication. It is far from being the case in Cameroon.

A few months back, the state disbursed a whooping FCFA 680 million for the Ebola fight. Within a week or so of the disbursement, Health Minister, Mama Fouda undertook a whirlwind tour to selected parts of the country. But it was rather the Minister’s visits that were reported by media as opposed to the fact that there was a lurking killer in the form of a virus.

Granted that some border towns and villages were also visited by informed experts and the denizens given basic lessons on the Ebola virus. But this was, to say the least superficial, in comparison to how other nations are targeting the deadly enemy.

Matters were worsened when some media reported that the Health Minister was “confiscating” the sensitisation tours; keeping off his Secretary of State from the beat, because of the pecuniary interest and gains that were evidently going to accrue from the exercise.

The Post imagines that the nation might have lost heavily, in fiscal and man hour terms. What with heavy sums expended on mission allowances to civil servants and “journalists” quarreling openly, over certain health officials having robbed them of the elusive “Ebola brown envelopes or gombo”?

What about the fact of media reports tending to do spin jobs for the Minister, rather than zeroing-in on the point at issue; Ebola? And how about the fact that nothing but Safari type trips were made out of Yaoundé and which have, arguably cost the taxpayer an “unaccounted” whooping 680 million francs?

How would Cameroonians take it, if the Lions, like the Leone Stars were to play all their qualifying matches for AFCON 2015 away from home, because Ebola finally landed our shores out of Governmental negligence?

The Post sampled the opinions of a cross section of Cameroonians and majority of their responses was that given the way the issue is being handled, Cameroon is, in a manner of speaking, guilty of Ebola, until proven innocent.

If Ebola Gets Here, There Will Be Total Chaos Cameroonians love doing things at the last minute. I tell you verily that no action, as far as putting up structures to cater for Ebola patients or carrying out research, if there is no sign of the virus in the country.

If or when it gets here, there would be total chaos; it is at that moment that the powers would be struggling to erect structures.