Ghana's Corona Virus Experience

Late in the night of Friday 27th March 2020 the President of the Republic of Ghana announced that four towns and cities including the capital city, considered to be the epi-centre of the corona virus pandemic would be in lockdown for two weeks beginning Monday 30th March.  The decision was clearly well intentioned and followed global best practice in this crisis, but has come at a heavy cost to the poor who literally subsist on daily earnings. The announcement triggered a movement of people out of Accra and Kumasi to beat the lockdown. On the first day of the lockdown a video trended on social media showing 30 adolescents girls and young women with their young children hiding in a truck containing cargo heading towards a town in the northern part of the country.  There was outrage in some quarters because of the legitimate concern that the virus could be spreading across the country with the young women and girls. But why were they moving? These young women and girls are ‘kayayei’, i.e. head porters – they carry loads on their heads for traders and customers in the markets. They are migrants from the northern sector of the country where poverty rates far exceed the national average. With the lockdown, there would not be much activity in the markets in Accra and Kumasi; the young women and girls would not be able to earn an income even though they would still have to incur expenses. Moving back home, they could be assured of shelter and share whatever food the family had. In addition to the announcement of the lockdown the President stated that a programme was being drawn up (and which was later presented to Parliament) to address the hardship that the measures to contain the pandemic would inflict on the population. I think Government should have spelt out its corona virus alleviation programme at the same time that it announced the lockdown restrictions. This probably would have reduced uncertainty, stemmed the migration from Accra and Kumasi and limited the spread of the virus.

Those young women and girls with their children in hiding in the cargo truck are one of the many faces of vulnerability in Ghana. The Government was quick to respond by almost immediately organising free food packages to vulnerable individuals each day of what turned out to be a three-week lockdown. I am yet to find out what the eligibility criteria was.  According to the Minister of Finance, the three-week lockdown was lifted because it was hurting the informal sector; it was hurting people who have to earn a wage every day. The lockdown could not be sustained.  

Despite the shrinking fiscal space – revenue has fallen - a GHS 1.2 billion ($200 million) corona virus alleviation programme has been approved by Parliament to provide support to households and businesses. Households have benefitted from a 100% water subsidy for three months until June 2020 and a 50% electricity subsidy to households, except very poor customers who will receive a 100% subsidy for three months until June. An incentive package (tax waivers) has been provided to health workers and in addition, frontline health workers will receive allowances. Given the global shortage of PPEs, local production has been encouraged by government. The private sector has risen to the occasion, and locally produced masks made using African prints are being manufactured by small household enterprises. A producer of alcoholic drinks has turned to producing hand sanitizers. 

Government has set up the COVID-19 National Trust Fund to receive funds from individuals and institutions to supplement state resources. So far the Trust Fund has received the equivalent of $7.2 million. Apart from this, there are various initiatives to support the effort to fight the spread of the Covid-19. Donations to the national fund and to individual healthcare organisations and institutions, have come from all and sundry including the Association of Spare Parts Dealers, the Customs House Agents and Old Girls’ associations of the schools I attended.

Large private sector actors are also doing their bit and have come together to establish Ghana’s Private Sector COVID-19 Fund. Its objective as stated on its website is to ‘partly fund GOG’s interventions and equip selected health service and supply chain facilities and activities in the fight against COVID-19’. The Fund is financing the construction of a 100-bed isolation and treatment facility. It is managed by a Board of Trustees who comprise the first 10 people to contribute to the Fund. They are CEOs of local companies. The names of donors are published on the web page.

At the community level the not so poor, provided food packages to the perceived vulnerable. It was not always pure altruism, which is not unexpected. A young friend of mine told me that in her community, each well-to-do household adopted two less fortunate households and supplied them with food packages during the lockdown to make sure that they would stay at home as required by the lockdown and not turn to crime (rob the homes of the rich) out of desperation. It was a win-win situation, which cannot be said for all cases of aid-giving.

The number of confirmed cases is rising and the number of cases in Ghana may be higher than in many African countries because of government’s policy of trace, test and treat. We are yet to see how the assistance programme to small and medium scale enterprises will be implemented. The eligibility criteria could worsen already existing inequalities. A pressing problem is stigmatisation of people who have recovered from the virus. Lots more information on the virus has to be made available so that people can understand how the virus spreads and what it means to have recovered from the virus.

Admittedly however, there is a lot that Ghana can learn from other countries and there is a lot that it is learning from its own experiences as it plods along. 

A short piece submitted to IAFFE lists by:

Professor Abena D. Oduro

President-elect, International Association of Feminist Economists,

Associate Professor, Dept of Economics and Director - Ghana Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa, University of Ghana, Legon