Thank Goodness Samira Is Safe But…

The second lady, Hajia Samira Bawumia, while delivering her keynote address at the opening of the 17th Biennial National Delegates Congress of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA) on Tuesday, was reported to have succumbed to the unbearable high temperature at the venue and had to be attended to by medical professionals.

Within moments, she was fine and fit to continue with her assignment.

Instead of us, as a people, asking the relevant questions so as to pick key lessons and be better advised for such eventualities, a section of us rather decided to blow the narration out of context and report that Samira Bawumia had collapsed and had been rushed to a hospital.

It is such characteristic-senselessness that makes us often miss the point.

The second lady herself had to take to her social media handles to address the misinformation and assure Ghanaians that she was hale and healthy.

Even before we take a look at the critical issues of climate change, global warming and increased temperatures leading to heat waves and what have you, it completely beats the mind that a gathering of medical professionals would not take into consideration, issues of good ventilation at such a ceremony.

At what point did the health professionals organising the event realise there was a problem with ventilation in the auditorium? Did they take into account the size of the venue, the number of expected guests and the health implications?

Event organisers who are not even health professionals, do take such factors into account when planning. So what happened to GRNMA?

Instead of engaging in a meaningful dialogue to compare and adopt best practices in preventing such occurrences, here we are, discussing fictions on how someone was rushed to a hospital after a supposed collapse.

This year marks the 74th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations and the global body has declared climate change as a key defining issue of the moment.

It has devoted time and resources in combating the challenge. Ghanaians cannot continue to pretend to be unconcerned.

The country, in 2015, signed the Paris Climate Agreement and promised to play her role in going all out to engage it’s citizens to adopt lifestyles that would reduce the effects of global warming.

But here we are. Felling trees without replacing them. Here we are with a huge appetite for deforestation. Charcoal from trees, some hundred years old, is still a major source of fuel in Ghana in this year 2019.

It is very normal to see old rickety vehicles with their exhaust pipes emitting thick black fumes in the capital city of Ghana, in this day and age.

We have the courage to burn anything including car types and all manner of rubber products in public…. Yet, we claim we are also concerned about climate change! Ah well….