No Extension of Health Emergency

The state of health emergency seems to have outlived its usefulness now that the whole country has only two Ebola patients; fearing a resurgence of the deadly epidemic is no valid excuse for an extension of the health emergency which has been negatively impacting the socio-economic life of this already impoverished nation.

We are fully aware of the vital role the health emergency has been playing in the battle to purge Ebola out of the country but it will be unwise to extend it at this time when we have almost conquered the battle and the country is in dire need of a full resumption of social and economic activities that have been disrupted for over a year.

An extension of the state of emergency will mean an extension of the sufferings of the fed up masses and it will send a bad signal to the international world that the country is still unsafe for investors. It will mean the battle against Ebola is far from being won. It will also mean that we are expecting more Ebola.

Therefore, this press is fully supporting the main opposition Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) in calling on government to abandon the idea of extending the state of health emergency which has the high potential to make the government more unpopular. We just cannot afford to be permanently living under a health emergency which has been a serious inconvenience to us. Moreover, it would be a gross manifestation of cowardice to allow the fear of the resurgence of Ebola to keep us in constant suppression.

Government must give the people some amount of relief by not extending the health emergency for now; it could still be re-imposed when the occasion arises. The masses have been suffering for too long from the health emergency which is equivalent to open detention.

By extending the health emergency, government will be doing flagrant injustice to those districts that have been recording permanent zero Ebola cases for some months now. Why should such districts which are in the majority continue to suffer from another round of health emergency just because a very insignificant number of Ebola cases are still reported in very few areas? Let the extension be for those few areas to ensure fair play.

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