The Prime minister, Head of Government, Joseph Dion Ngute on Thursday April 30, 2020 ordered relaxing measures against Covid-19.
These measures some of which include the re-opening of bars, restaurants and other leisure facilities above 6pm, return to initial number of passengers in public transport vehicles and as well other comforting decisions for transporters, workers and companies.
This latest outing of the Prime Minister has been interpreted by some as a signal to near end of Covid-19. Should this be the case, what positive legacies could be remembered for about Covid-19?
In line with this, the Director of Trade at the British High Commission to Cameroon and CEO of Development Associates Inc, Kimbi Michael Tchenga has advanced a number of good habits which will probably continued in post Covid-19 era
These include:
1) Regular washing of hands
2) Hand wash stations in public places and commercial outlets
3) Flexible working rhythm (from home or office) especially for persons with disabilities or nursing mothers
4) Social distancing in public transport. No overloading
5) Diligent home-schooling, kids
6) Family bonding and communion
7) Responsible social practices
8) Commumity consciousness and participation in public health matters
9) More Gov’t investment in healthcare (beyond 15% threshold)
10) More tweets & posts from Government seniors (ministers) with open Q&A chats with citizens
11) More public diplomacy, engagement & accountability from politicians in high office
12) Timely or early daily closure of off-licences and bars
13) More efficient home delivery services or take home packages for businesses in food & drink sector.
14) More digital initiatives
15) Better mobile banking
16) E-learning & e-meetings
17) Broadcast of school lessons on national TV
18) Production of educative content for digital media.
19) Competitive internet bundles
20) Lower urban pollution (noise, C-emissions, etc)
21) Replace wanton, expensive travel missions with digital encounters
22) More solidarity to less privileged persons
23) Functional social safety nets
24) Promote traditional medicine research
25) Local production of PPE and essential medical supplies
26) Reward schemes and welfare support initiatives for health personnel
27) More use of digital payment modalities (mobile money, etc)
28) Less expensive funeral rites and ‘celebrations’
29) More celebration of life
30) More local creativity and innovation to adapt to challenges
Mr Kimbi’s submissions have so far received affirmative responses from his followers on Twitter. However, some have objected to only few points. The problem of overloading by drivers of public transportation might apparently reappear and that bars, restaurants and other leisure spots might go back to their old ways of being noisy and close very late citing the drinking culture that exist in Cameroon.
It should be noted that Development Associates CEO’s proposed Good habits of Post-Covid-19 are not exhausted in this post. The rest (20 more) will come up in a subsequent post.
By Macwalter Njapteh
