The leaders COVID-19 will make or unmake - The Carlos factor
When it comes to the raging novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Dr Bernard Okoe-Boye is to Ghanaians what Mr Carlos Kingsley Ahenkorah is not.
While the pandemic has fast-tracked the making of Dr Okoe-Boye as a Deputy Minister of Health, it has quickened the unmaking of Mr Ahenkorah as a Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry.
After his brilliant display of his knowledge and expertise on health pandemics and the COVID-19 in particular, Dr Okoe-Boye expectantly caught the attention of President Akufo-Addo, leading to his appointment on April 6.
Mr Ahenkorah, on the other hand, earned the angst of Ghanaians when he disobeyed his doctor's advice and the COVID-19 protocols and went touring voter registration centres. That was in spite of him being told to self-isolate after testing positive for the virus.
Mr Ahenkorah later resigned on July 3, cutting short a leadership role that had seen him utilise his many years of experience as a freight forwarder and an importer to impact government policies at the ports.
The contrast
Two politicians and Members of Parliament (MPs) from the same party and region, Dr Okoe-Boye and Mr Ahenkorah, each had the potential to be appointed or dislodged, given the uncertainty around political power in the country.
What nobody could tell, however, was how they would be made and unmade by a health pandemic that has serious implications on economics, society and politics.
Suffice to say that the two sharp contrasts on the rise and the fall of the two New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs and political leaders exemplify the essence of what we started discussing in the June 23 - June 29 edition of the column titled: 'The leaders COVID-19 will make or unmake.'
First victim and lessons
It is clear that Mr Ahenkorah has emerged the first victim of the pandemic, which like all crises, will produce heroes/heroines, as well as inadequates in leaders.
His disregard for the protocols, which he shockingly defended in public, brought out a part of him that his followers might not have known but for the pressure that the pandemic provided.
But that is now history. What is in it for leaders still working and juggling the leadership balls?
They must learn lessons and apply them as they go.
As leaders, this is the time to inspire confidence and comfort their followers.
The pandemic creates grave uncertainty, a turmoil that shutters dreams and limits aspirations.
People are understandably scared and confused while others are unconcerned. Leaders, through their actions and words, need to refocus all these negatives into positive energy; energy that helps contain the spread of the virus and its impact on lives and properties.
They also have to be ambassadors of the fight against the virus, abiding by the protocols and ensuring that others do so.
Leaders to watch
Like explained in the June 23 - June 29 edition of the column, the pandemic makes almost everybody a leader but the roles of others will take centre stage when the dust settles and the actions of all are assessed.
Beyond those mentioned in that article, the following roles will be of interest:
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, and the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Ernest Addison, among others.
