Knights and Ladies of Marshall donates GH¢100,000 to COVID-19 fight

The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC) has called on the public to stay positive and adhere strictly to the measures put in place by the government to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

According to the conference, although the steps taken by the government in dealing with the pandemic may have some challenges, it was important for other stakeholders to fill the void by supporting to correct the difficulties instead of dwelling on weaknesses inherent in them.

The Vice-President of the GCBC, Most Rev. Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle, who made the call on behalf of the conference, stressed that it was particularly important for the media, especially, to shed light on the critical role that health workers and security agencies were playing in the COVID-19 fight.

"The government cannot do everything about COVID-19 all alone. So let us encourage people to complement what the government is doing and even add on to it when we can; that is how we can collectively win the fight," he said.

Donation

Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle, who is also the Archbishop of the Cape Coast Archdiocese of the Catholic Church, made the call yesterday when the Knights and Ladies of Marshall donated GH¢100,000 to the Catholic Secretariat to support the fight against COVID-19.

The Knights and Ladies of Marshall is a Catholic fraternal organisation which aims at bringing Catholics together in the practice of unity, fraternity, charity and service.

A dummy cheque for the amount was presented by the Supreme Knight of the association, Sir Knight Bro. Charles Cobb, to the GCBC at its secretariat. 

The Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra, Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie and the Secretary General of GCBC, Very Rev Father Lazarus Anondee, joined Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle to receive the cheque.

The donation is targeted at supporting GCBC to procure personal protection equipment (PPE) for frontline health workers, as well as provide relief items to the poor and vulnerable population.

Frontline workers

Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle paid glowing tribute to frontline players such as health workers, security officers and the media for putting their lives on the line to save lives and provide relevant information on the pandemic.

He noted, however, that while a few excesses might occur, especially with regard to enforcing the movement restrictions order by security personnel, it was important for the media to project the good things the security agencies were doing too, particularly, at a critical time as this.

"In reporting on COVID-19, we should focus more on the people at the frontline who are making sacrifices to save other people. Let us highlight the positive work of these heroes and heroines.

"If we have about 1.9 million people getting COVID-19 infections across the world and only a small percentage of them are dying, we should be telling the good story of those who are surviving the disease and let people know that if you get the virus, it is not a death sentence," he stressed.

Local support

For his part, Most Rev. Kwofie called on all organisations and individuals to contribute their widow’s mite towards winning the fight against COVID-19.

“COVID-19 has affected the whole world and every country is fighting to survive it; so it will be difficult for Ghana to turn to other countries for help. We must look inwards to contain the disease with local resources and collaboration,” he said.

He said even although the Catholic Church was already contributing significantly to the fight against the pandemic, it would not rest until the disease had been defeated.

For instance, he said, the Accra Archdiocese of the Catholic Church had spent a total of GH₵111,000 on the purchase of personal protection equipment (PPE) in addition to supporting vulnerable groups.

Commitment

Sir Knight Bro. Cobb said the decision by the Knights and Ladies of Marshall to donate towards elimination of COVID-19 was because of the negative impact the disease was having on the country.

“We are all committed to stopping the spread of COVID-19 so that our country can quickly return to normalcy and for us to resume our usual daily and Sunday Masses,” he said.