Veep Amissah-Arthur’s wife rejects handshake

• Posted on October 27, 2014October 27, 2014
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Second Lady, Matilda Amissah-Arthur, shocked residents, chiefs and people of Dzodze in the Ketu-North District of the Volta Region, when she declined shaking hands with the chiefs as expected.

Although the second lady just waved at the gathering, including the chiefs who were sitting in state, the multitude that had thronged a public durbar in her honour, murmured and wondered what had gone amiss.

Ebola Campaign

Madam Amissah-Arthur, during her address later, explained that she declined shaking hands in public gatherings and other events to raise awareness on the need to make Ebola prevention a daily activity.

According to her, it was an intentional measure to advocate for “no hand-shaking” in public in a move to prevent the infection of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

Ebola is transmitted through direct contact with infected persons as well as through the consumption of infected bush meat – fruit-eating bats, antelopes and monkeys. Since the outbreak of the virus early this year, there have been a total of 10,141 cases, 5,692 laboratory-confirmed cases and 4,922 deaths.

Countries where the disease has been endemic are Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, although there have been cases reported in USA, Spain, Nigeria and Senegal.

Mrs. Amissah-Arthur, who presented library books to the EP Basic Schools as well as some gifts to the St Anthony Hospital in Dodze recently, said the Ebola virus was challenging Ghanaians to amend their traditions and ways of socialising for safety.

“All our pleading is that we still want to respect tradition; we still know that our traditions are there but because of the cholera, Ebola, and other things that we have, let’s start practising some of these things so that – God forbid – when it hits us, we know what to do,” she advised.

She added that “God has been so kind to us Ebola hasn’t come to Ghana. We are very grateful to God, but I just want to encourage that we shouldn’t sit down for it to come before we start doing certain things that we should do. In our own small way, we can begin to keep our environments clean; we can begin to just do simple hygiene, and so from today onwards, people of Dzodze, please don’t greet. If you go to a gathering –   whether it’s funeral or church, don’t shake hands.”

No Handshaking In Church

She urged reverend ministers and other church leaders to discourage their members from holding hands and shaking hands. She said, “When it comes to sharing of the grace or peace, let them wave and share the peace.”

From Fred Duodu, Dzodze