By Ezekiel Nabieu
Question: Where are we? Answer: In a State of Emergency and not necessarily in a state of dictatorship. Our 1991 Constitution makes provision for the declaration of Emergency which suspends and not usurps the rights of citizens. The Constitution has not been suspended. What happens during these Emergencies depends on the manner in which they are operated by the wielders in order to achieve set goals. In other words it is not what is being done but it is how it is done that matters.
Democracies and dictatorships run in parallel lines and, according to our Constitution, we cannot be in both states. We are in a democracy and should be governed as such. Which is why the looming slamming of a lockdown should be dexterously managed. Thank God it is not meant to be a lockup.
The choice of days of the week must have been made in order to reverse the increasing rate of Ebola sufferers and not necessarily to end it. The one-day stay-at-home that we had endured is not quite the same as three days of endurance. It is like one day without food which is very common among mainly poor people and three days which is very uncommon. That will be on the brink of starvation for the have-nots who live a day at a time and pray to God only for their daily bread and not a twice-weekly bread.
The modus operandi of the exercise may not yield the dividends expected. This is because of the tinge of sycophancy that characterises almost every act of a developing country. Even those who have better solutions (professors and all) do succumb to the views of De Pa even if they are illogical. I want to believe that the choice of days of worship of the two main religions was not done by atheists but by people who belong to either of these faiths. As a result it is unbelievable that believers could think as such.
The whole exercise is sacrificial and so choosing non-worshiping days would not have caused a whimper albeit it would have caused more loss of revenue. Riding on the crest of its "4 for 4" popularity, the government seems to care less what the people think about the implication of the lockdown. The last elections showed that money is what matters for a people who are poor.
Worship has to do with reverence and respect paid to a god or devotion to a person or thing. In deciding on the weekend choice of days many probably did not have God on their minds. The weekenders were obviously dismissive of the value of congregational worship. People can worship God individually. “But I, through the abundance of thy steadfast love, will enter thy house; I will worship toward thy holy temple in the fear of thee” (Psalms 5:7). But the emphasis in the Bible, and I want to believe in the Koran also, is the worship of congregations of God’s people. The Old Testament feasts and the New Testament Lord’s Supper must be celebrated with other people. The early Christians met each day for worship (Acts 2:46) and a little later, on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor: 16:2).
Even in times of persecution, Christians were told that they should continue to meet as congregations in order to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25). It is therefore a disappointment to devout worshippers that worldly people should have had sway over the religious ones. Preventing people from congregational worship because of ill-conceived notions will not lead to a blessing for this nation. Nigeria, with a war on its hands has scuppered the Ebola scourge while we are reeling under it with both countries having got the disease from one person.
It is amazing how the deployment of 21,000 volunteers can monitor a population of more than six million in three days. In their warped order of priorities they have dished out over Le 7 billion to Members of Parliament ostensibly for leadership as medical staff and others are dying in their hundreds. Little wonder that MSF has condemned the move warning it may lead to victims of the disease going underground.
Monies expended on MPs should have been used to augment the numbers of field workers for more effective results. Even in the recruitment process I wager that it is going to be done on party basis. These are some of the reasons why Ebola will prove difficult to contain if we do not change tact in dealing with it.
A simple but effective expedient is to offer about Le 100,000 to anyone giving information that will lead to the location of a victim of Ebola.
It could do the trick. Scores if not hundreds would have been located without any lockdown. But poh man word nor dae pass. As an exception let this one pass. It can still be factored into the three-day lockdown exercise. Every nation has the government that it deserves.
Question Time
- Can the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) be trusted to bring to book Members of Parliament who will not give proper accounts of the leadership monies given to them?
- Why are quarantined people still complaining of food insufficiency in spite of continuing contributions to the Ebola fund?
- Why are public meetings still being held while syndicates and video centre watching places are forbidden?
- Is the government serious about eradication of Ebola with massive political meetings going on?
(C) Politico, 11/09/14
