On Monday 15 September , Sierra Leone was graced by the visit of the President of Ghana and Chairman of ECOWAS, John Mahama. He was the first and so far only foreign head of state to visit the country since the Ebola outbreak nearly four months ago. His solidarity visit came amid concerns that the disease is spreading and the country is being ostracised. But he also came as criticism mounts that the outside world was not helpful enough in the fight, with some even criticising the regional grouping, ECOWAS. Umaru Fofana spoke to President Mahama and started by asking him what the regional grouping had done in the Ebola fight.
President Mahama: I think at ECOWAS the initial response was more ECOWAS than any other organisation because the West Africa Health Organisation was the first to hold a meeting of committee of experts, you know, to discuss the outbreak and what to do about it. Since then our next meeting of the Authorities of Heads of States had Ebola on top of the agenda and discussions were held as to our response. We set up the solidarity fund that started to raise money, the initial monies for the countries that were affected before the rest of the international community came on board. Actually the West Africa Health Organisation was the one that gave the initial monies even though it was a little. At least initially when there were no resources it was important for that money to have been received. In addition to that recently we held the Health Ministers' conference to discuss the status of our fight against Ebola, what are our sub-regional response to it or should be.
Politico: Do you think it has been adequate. And I am asking this because the President of Sierra Leone, for example, has asked for clinicians, he has asked for anybody who can help with experts in the health sector to send them in. We do not have anyone here from West Africa, helping fight the scourge?
President Mahama: I think that pledges have come in respect of resources and that's why I was saying in the briefing that what we need now are volunteers. We need people to put on the protective clothing and go in there into the treatment centres and help.
Politico: Will ECOWAS send those?
President Mahama: ECOWAS on its own cannot mobilise them. I think that it is the countries that need to see if we can raise volunteers to come. Cuba has announced that they will assist, China has, and I am sure other countries not only in West Africa but all over the world wherever we can find people to help, you know.
Politico: Isn’t that the point Mr President, that Cuba all the way there and China can send in those people, West African nations do not seem to be helping put out the fire in their neighborhood?
President Mahama: Yeah, but what you forget is that Cuba has more health workers than most West African countries and so that’s the difference. Cuba already has a history of exporting health workers to even work in most of our countries. In my country there are Cuban doctors and Cuban health workers. And so most of the countries in West Africa don’t have enough health workers in the first place and that is why it is difficult for them to get those kinds of volunteers. We can look for retired health workers who are still active if they want to assist. That we can do.
Politico: Are you surprise that the rest of the world hasn’t come as leaders in this region say they should have, like, for example when the earthquake happened in Haiti lots of countries sent in their personnel there to respond. We do not have any such in any of the three countries affected [by Ebola] in West Africa. Does that disappoint you?
President Mahama: Ebola is a different kind of challenge. It is different from earthquakes and floods and things. When earthquakes and tsunamis and things happen you have a flood of resources. Yes you have a flood of volunteers because they are not afraid of catching anything. With Ebola it is a scary disease so when it started, getting people to come in and assist has not been easy. Health workers from outside who have worked with international medical charities have gotten infected and gone back home for treatment and all that. But I do believe that international response was slow but happily it's picking up. With more understanding of the illness people are beginning to respond appropriately.
Politico: And I understand Accra is being considered as a logistics hub in the Ebola response in the region. Is that being considered?
President Mahama: Yes, as chairman of ECOWAS I noticed that our sister countries that are affected were in danger of being ostracised because the airlines stopped flying you know there was just this panic about the disease, border being closed and all that. So I made an offer to use Accra as a logistics hub for reaching into the affected countries. I spoke with the Secretary General of the United Nations and I gave my consent for Accra to be used. So the processes are in place to move personnel and logistics through Accra into all the three affected countries
(C) Politico 25/09/14
