This article examined the lockdown jigsaw that characterised Ghana’s surveillance and management of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the main opposition political party – National Democratic Congress (NDC) – and the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) in particular advocated a total shutdown of the country in a bid to contain the spread of the virus, the government in March, 2020, announced a partial lockdown of specific cities and suburbs where the virus was endemic for a period of 21 days. In the process, the government embarked on an aggressive contact tracing and test that catapulted the number of confirmed cases in March, 2020, from 2 to 7,303 as at May 27, 2020. The government subsequently, lifted the partial lockdown to ease the suffering of the vulnerable masses in society while strictly observing social or physical distancing and other protocols advocated by the World Health Organisation (W. H. O.) and the Ghana Health Service (G. H. S). The lifting of the restrictions by the President of the Republic, attracted varied reactions from the populace and some interest groups. While the vulnerable and the ‘have-nots’ in society whose survival is contingent on daily economic hustle and bustle in the city hailed the lifting of restrictions, the elites and economic self-dependent individuals on the other hand, criticised the government for lifting the partial lockdown. This paper argues that the partial lockdown and the subsequent lifting of the restriction on movements, was premised on the machinations of politics, economics and science.
| Published in | Journal of Political Science and International Relations (Volume 3, Issue 3) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.jpsir.20200303.11 |
| Page(s) | 44-55 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Coronavirus, Lockdown Politics, Pathogenic Disease, Partisan Expedition, Vulnerable
| [1] | Leon, J. K. (2015). The rise of global health: The evolution of effective collection action. Albany: State University of New York Press. |
| [2] | Brown, K. & Wang, R. C. (2020). Politics and science: The case of China and the coronavirus. Asian Affairs, 51: 2, 247 – 264. |
| [3] | Biscop, S. (2020). Coronavirus and power: The impact on international politics. Brussels: EGMONT Royal Institute of International Relations, No. 126, pp 1. |
| [4] | El Zowalaty, M. E. & Josf, D. J. (2020). From SARS to COVID-19: A previously unknown SARS-related coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) of pandemic potential infecting humans – Call for a o. ne health approach ELSEVIER B. V., pp 1-6. Accessed: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.onehlt.2020.100124. |
| [5] | Braimah, A. I. (2020). Free education policy in a neoliberal global environment: Synergies and contradictions. Unpublished manuscript. |
| [6] | Braimah, A. I. & Bawah, A, S. (2019). Violent death in the lives of police officers in Ghana: An evidence-based study. International Journal of Scientific Research and Management, Vol. 7, No, 5, pp 491–500. |
| [7] | Karamanou, M., Panayiotakopoulos, G., Tsoucalas, G., Kousoulis, A. A. & Androutsos. G. (2012). From miasmas to germs: A historical approach to theories of infectious disease transmission. Le Infezioni in Medicina, n. 1, 52-56. |
| [8] | Washer, P. (2010). Emerging infectious diseases and society. NY: Palgrave Macmillan. |
| [9] | Coronavirus, (2012). Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica. |
| [10] | Government of Ghana (2020). Address to the nation by president of the republic Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, on updates to Ghana’s enhanced response to the coronavirus pandemic. Sunday, 19th April, 2020. |
| [11] | Mahama, J. D. (2020). Tweet by former president John Mahama on lifting of restriction on movements in Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi, Accra, Ghana. |
| [12] | Ghana Trade Union Congress (2020). Interaction with President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House, Accra, Ghana. |
| [13] | Akuffo, S. (2020). Speech delivered at the Seat of Government by Chairperson of ‘CVID-19 National Trust Fund’, Accra, Ghana. |
| [14] | Monaco, L. (2020). Pandemic disease is a threat to national security: Washington should treat it like one. Foreign Affairs Magazine. |
APA Style
Awaisu Imurana Braimah. (2020). On the Politics of Lockdown and Lockdown Politics in Africa: COVID-19 and Partisan Expedition in Ghana. Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 3(3), 44-55. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jpsir.20200303.11
ACS Style
Awaisu Imurana Braimah. On the Politics of Lockdown and Lockdown Politics in Africa: COVID-19 and Partisan Expedition in Ghana. J. Polit. Sci. Int. Relat. 2020, 3(3), 44-55. doi: 10.11648/j.jpsir.20200303.11
AMA Style
Awaisu Imurana Braimah. On the Politics of Lockdown and Lockdown Politics in Africa: COVID-19 and Partisan Expedition in Ghana. J Polit Sci Int Relat. 2020;3(3):44-55. doi: 10.11648/j.jpsir.20200303.11
Share This Article
Twitter
Linked In
Facebook
Copy
Download@article{10.11648/j.jpsir.20200303.11,
author = {Awaisu Imurana Braimah},
title = {On the Politics of Lockdown and Lockdown Politics in Africa: COVID-19 and Partisan Expedition in Ghana},
journal = {Journal of Political Science and International Relations},
volume = {3},
number = {3},
pages = {44-55},
doi = {10.11648/j.jpsir.20200303.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jpsir.20200303.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jpsir.20200303.11},
abstract = {This article examined the lockdown jigsaw that characterised Ghana’s surveillance and management of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the main opposition political party – National Democratic Congress (NDC) – and the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) in particular advocated a total shutdown of the country in a bid to contain the spread of the virus, the government in March, 2020, announced a partial lockdown of specific cities and suburbs where the virus was endemic for a period of 21 days. In the process, the government embarked on an aggressive contact tracing and test that catapulted the number of confirmed cases in March, 2020, from 2 to 7,303 as at May 27, 2020. The government subsequently, lifted the partial lockdown to ease the suffering of the vulnerable masses in society while strictly observing social or physical distancing and other protocols advocated by the World Health Organisation (W. H. O.) and the Ghana Health Service (G. H. S). The lifting of the restrictions by the President of the Republic, attracted varied reactions from the populace and some interest groups. While the vulnerable and the ‘have-nots’ in society whose survival is contingent on daily economic hustle and bustle in the city hailed the lifting of restrictions, the elites and economic self-dependent individuals on the other hand, criticised the government for lifting the partial lockdown. This paper argues that the partial lockdown and the subsequent lifting of the restriction on movements, was premised on the machinations of politics, economics and science.},
year = {2020}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - On the Politics of Lockdown and Lockdown Politics in Africa: COVID-19 and Partisan Expedition in Ghana AU - Awaisu Imurana Braimah Y1 - 2020/07/06 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jpsir.20200303.11 DO - 10.11648/j.jpsir.20200303.11 T2 - Journal of Political Science and International Relations JF - Journal of Political Science and International Relations JO - Journal of Political Science and International Relations SP - 44 EP - 55 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2640-2785 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jpsir.20200303.11 AB - This article examined the lockdown jigsaw that characterised Ghana’s surveillance and management of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the main opposition political party – National Democratic Congress (NDC) – and the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) in particular advocated a total shutdown of the country in a bid to contain the spread of the virus, the government in March, 2020, announced a partial lockdown of specific cities and suburbs where the virus was endemic for a period of 21 days. In the process, the government embarked on an aggressive contact tracing and test that catapulted the number of confirmed cases in March, 2020, from 2 to 7,303 as at May 27, 2020. The government subsequently, lifted the partial lockdown to ease the suffering of the vulnerable masses in society while strictly observing social or physical distancing and other protocols advocated by the World Health Organisation (W. H. O.) and the Ghana Health Service (G. H. S). The lifting of the restrictions by the President of the Republic, attracted varied reactions from the populace and some interest groups. While the vulnerable and the ‘have-nots’ in society whose survival is contingent on daily economic hustle and bustle in the city hailed the lifting of restrictions, the elites and economic self-dependent individuals on the other hand, criticised the government for lifting the partial lockdown. This paper argues that the partial lockdown and the subsequent lifting of the restriction on movements, was premised on the machinations of politics, economics and science. VL - 3 IS - 3 ER -
Information
Email: