BBC ACCRA DEBATE ON EBOLA - WHAT NEXT? WHO RUNS A COUNTRY WHEN ITS IN CRISIS

Zeinab Badawi was in Ghana with a panel of decision-makers to discuss: Ebola - what next? Who runs a country when it's in crisis.The panelists were 5 people across the continent of Africa. The debate was held in the great hall of the University of Ghana,Accra.  
The Panelists were:

• Dr.Moustapha Koutoub Sano-Guinea Minister for internal co-operation.

• Jan Egeland is a Norwegian politician, formerly of the Labour party. He has been the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council since August 2013. He was previously the Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch and the Director of Human Rights Watch Europe.

• Arnold Ekpe-Former head of ecobank. Africas largest independent regional banking group.

• Phumzile Mlambo-Ngucka United Nations Under Secretary -General and Executive

•  Leymah Gbowee who is Peace activist, women's rights advocate, mother of six, founder of Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa and 2011 Nobel Peace Laureate

The debate begun around 6 o’clock GMT. The main question was “After Ebola what next”.

Zinab asked if Ebola could have been prevented. Most of the panellists agreed it wasn't preventable but it could have been managed better because the number of people who died were too much.


 The distinguished writer Ama Atta Aidoo asked the first question ’ Why do locals look up to the International bodies when faced with an Ebola crises?  Can’t locals solve the issue themselves? International development, budgetary support have all become euphemisms of how we depend on the international community' she added.

The Panelists took this up and it was made clear that the international community has much more power to address and help with crises than the local people hence the local people look up to the international bodies. Zainab quoted from Margaret Chan the head of the world health organization ' I believe in self reliance, invest in your people  for results its difficult to rely on outside help all the time.Why cant we Africans help ourselves'

Leymah Gbowee  thought that Guinea rushing to the international community for help was ironic because they had enough money to buy flashy cars for Politicians in the country. The lack of governments to share their tiny sovereignty to create regional good like strong health system is also a problem.

The Panelist also hammered on the fact that African countries spend less than 10% of their Gdp on Health, Ebola is therefore a symptom of failed economic practice, There is nothing wrong with developing yourself  as a country and asking for help from the International bodies.

We have to avoid the fear factor which paralysed people which prevented good acts from different people,We also need to build local capacity so we can take up on the next crisis.We have gone through a lot. Borders were closed and stigmatization was high.We have to go in for integrated health systems so we can control things, Ebola is more than a health issue, its more of a social,educational and cultural problems. In the next  10 years, who is going to take care of these 10,000 orphans in Africa.Just as we have mobilized to end Ebola we should mobilize and take care of these children ebola has made orphans. The panelists concluded