Questioning the Necessity of Ebola Checkpoints

The numerous Ebola checkpoints along the Freetown-Kenema highway are meant to check the spread of the dreaded Ebola mass killer virus which has claimed the lives of nearly four thousand people and has held our country to ransom. But the manner in which the Ebola checkpoints are now being manned by police and military personnel has left me wondering whether the checkpoints are really necessary.

What I have been observing is that some highly placed people in our society are allowed to cross the checkpoints without going through the mandatory process to washing their hands and undergoing the thermometer test. Are such personalities not prone to Ebola or are they Ebola-resistant? Or is it that the checkpoints are meant for only the impoverished and underprivileged masses?

Recently, I was travelling to Kenema when I saw a Bishop cross an Ebola checkpoint without being asked to come down and wash his hands and undergo the thermo-test. And the Bishop had many other people in his vehicle all of whom never washed their hands with the chlorinated water nor did they undergo the thermo-test. When I asked the military and police officers deployed at the checkpoint why they allowed the Bishop and his entourage to cross the checkpoint washing their hands and going through the thermo-test, they replied that the man was a Bishop and should be given concession.

Supposing that Bishop was carrying Ebola patients to Kenema, he would have simply succeeded in infesting that Ebola-free community with a fresh round of Ebola. If we are being selective in battling Ebola, then I have the justifiable fear that it will be very difficult for us to win the war against the killer viral epidemic.

Besides, some of the military and police officers deployed at the Ebola checkpoints are more concentrated on collecting money than fighting Ebola. On several occasions, I have witnessed theses officers giving free passage to drivers who grease their palms and those who refuse to do so are forced to wait until all their passengers wash their hands and undergo the thermo-test.

Such negative and unpatriotic mannerism displayed by some of these money-hungry officers bears the highest propensity to undermine the war against Ebola apart from making the Ebola checkpoints unnecessary.

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