Bank of Africa-Ghana supports COVID-19
The Executive Head, Operations and Support at Bank of Africa (BoA), Mr George Otchere, has called for concerted effort to support the government win the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said given the nature of the fight against the virus, and how long it was going to last, it was important for all to come together and support the government in its intervention geared towards overcoming the pandemic.
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“There are roles we all can play, no matter how small, to support the fight against this virus. The support of everybody counts and this can be in the form of supporting people in need in our communities, being disciplined and going by the safety protocols or even helping to educate others about the virus and the danger it poses. It does not have to always be monetary support,” he said.
Mr Otchere said these when he led a team from the BoA to donate food items to the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to be given out to the vulnerable.
Food items
The items, made up of 700 bags of rice, 200 gallons of cooking oil, 200 cartons of tinned fish and 200 cartons of tinned tomatoes, are to support the ministry’s plan to give out packages of food items instead of cooked meals to the vulnerable during this period.
Mr Otchere expressed the hope that the items would help provide some level of relief to women, children and the aged who would be affected in many ways by this current situation.
He indicated that the bank was among the first to support the government by donating GH¢416,000.00 through the Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) to the COVID-19 Trust Fund.
“We will continue to monitor developments and play our role as a responsible corporate institution to support government,” Mr Otchere assured.
Welfare of vulnerable
Receiving the items, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mrs Cynthia Morrison, said despite the lifting of the restriction on movement, persons who were benefiting from the food distribution would continue to enjoy the service for a while.
She said the plan would, however, change with the distribution of raw food items instead of cooked food.
"There is a need to concentrate on our very vulnerable people because the other category of people are back to work so we will only focus on the very vulnerable,” she said.
She, therefore, described as timely, the donation from the BoA and gave an assurance that the items would be distributed to those who deserved to be supported.
“We are grateful to Bank of Africa for this kind gesture. This is very encouraging and a great support. Government cannot bear all the responsibility and with gestures like this, many more people could be supported” Mrs Morrison said.