BY JOHN ABU “EXTRA-ORDINARY CHALLENGES REQUIRES EXTRA-ORDINARY MEASURES. THE EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE (EVD) POSES AN EXTRA-ORDINARY CHALLENGE TO OUR NATION. CONSEQUENTLY, AND IN LINE WITH THE CONSTITUTION OF SIERRA LEONE ACT NUMBER 6 OF 1991, I HEREBY PROCLAIM A STATE OF PUBLIC EMERGENCY TO ENABLE US TAKE A MORE ROBUST APPROACH TO DEAL WITH THE EBOLA OUTBREAK.” - President Ernest Bai Koroma Please have your say! The President of the Republic of Sierra Leone has invoked section 29 of the 1991 Constitution, Act No. 6 of 1991, as a measure to stop the spread of the Deadly Ebola Viru Disease (EVD) across the country. Why only now? The disease was first discovered in the Eastern part of the country sometime in February this year. Why did President Koroma take a late decision on this issue? An earlier decision could have saved many lives. Could they have listened to Dr. Sylvia Blyden. Section 29 (1) “Whenever in the opinion of the President a state of public emergency is imminent or has commenced, the President may, at any time, by Proclamation which shall be published in the Gazette, declare that— a. a state of public emergency exists either in any part, or in the whole of Sierra Leone; or b. a situation exists which, if it is allowed to continue, may lead to a state of public emergency in any part of or the whole of Sierra Leone. (2) The President may issue a Proclamation of a state of public emergency only when— a. Sierra Leone is at war; b. Sierra Leone is in imminent danger of invasion or involvement in a state of war; or c. there is actual breakdown of public order and public safety in the whole of Sierra Leone or any part thereof to such an extent as to require extraordinary measures to restore peace and security; or d. there is a clear and present danger of an actual breakdown of public order and public safety in the whole of Sierra Leone or any part thereof requiring extraordinary measures to avert the same; or e. there is an occurrence of imminent danger, or the occurrence of any disaster or natural calamity affecting the community or a section of the community in Sierra Leone; or f. there is any other public danger which clearly constitutes a threat to the existence of Sierra Leone.” PRESIDENT KOROMA COULD HAVE INVOKED THIS SECTION OF THE CONSTITUTION LONG BEFORE THIS TIME, JUST WHEN THE DISEASE WAS DISCOVERED. PLEASE JOIN THIS DEBATE. DO YOU THINK THE PROCLAIMATION OF THE STATE OF PUBLIC EMERGENCY NOW IS TIMELY OR NOT? JUST LOOK AT THE PROACTIVE MEASURES BY THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: As the largest-ever outbreak of Ebola rages on in a cluster of West African nations, the planned evacuation of at least one infected American to the United States raises the question: Are we equipped to deal with the disease here? The answer, in short, is yes — very well. A widespread Ebola outbreak here is not in the cards, the CDC director recently told reporters. Thats partially because the United States has excellent infection control procedures and facilities. Among those facilities is a network of quarantine stations, where the CDC can legally detain anyone who may have been exposed to cholera, diptheria, infectious tuberculosis, plague, smallpox, yellow fever, SARS, new strains of flu, or — relevantly — viral hemmorhagic fevers like Ebola. Heres a map showing where those quarantine stations are: CDC A Brief History Of Our Quarantine System A yellow fever outbreak led to the countrys first quarantine center and hospital, set up in Philadelphia in 1799. In 1944, a new law gave the federal government the authority to quarantine people, a responsibility formally taken over by the CDC in 1967. In the 1970s, according to the CDC, the number of quarantine stations was reduced from 55 to 8 because infectious diseases were thought to be a thing of the past. But within the past decade, fears of bioterrorism after September 11 and the 2003 SARS epidemic prompted the U.S. to more than double the number of quarantine stations. There are now 20 scattered across the U.S., primarily at ports of entry and land-border crossings where international travelers arrive.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 14:33:39 +0000
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