Coronovirus: No need to show dead bodies on TV; it will encourage stigmatization- Majority Leader

Majority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu has said that he strongly disagrees with the suggestion by Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Alban Bagbin that visuals of persons who have died from COVID-19 should be shown on tv for citizens to believe the disease is real.

Hon. Bagbin said on the floor of parliament on Tuesday, 19th March 2020 that, the only way to get the citizenry to fully comply with safety protocols is if they see people have died from the virus on tv. He believes it will cause the needed fear for strict compliance with all protocols.

“The important thing is that the people we are leading, they want to see. In fact, I want to see on Television some evidence of death because when you state that this number of people are dead but they are not seeing anything like that [it will not give them the shock of their life]. I believe in shock therapy. We need shock therapy to wake them up from slumber and make them know COVID-19 is real.” – He said

But reacting to this, the Minister of Parliamentary affairs, Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu said he believes that is not a good idea as it will only encourage stigmatization.

“You are saying we should display corpses for people to see, how can you say this, here we are talking about stigmatization, we need to be consistent in our thinking as well to know the direction we are heading towards”