Upper East Regional Museum closed down due to the government’s failure to provide Personal Protection Equipment (PPEs) to staff and visitors in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The museum which was once supported with a single Veronica bucket and liquid soap in 2020 by a teachers’ union has since been struggling to withstand the surging numbers of the pandemic.
Madam Prisca Naamboma Yenzi, Regional Director of the Museum, revealed this to A1 Radio.
Surprised by the incident, Madam Naamboma said though the patronage of the museum was questionable before the pandemic, the virus and lack of PPEs have forced them to close the facility for further notice.
“Patronage of the facility was not encouraging but with the help of radio advocates, students and other visitors were coming. It was better than nothing. But now, the wake of Coronavirus and lack of PPEs to protect visitors when they come has forced us to lock the facility. One will ask how much is a face mask but I will tell you that it goes beyond just that. In case of visitors who come without these basic safety materials like face masks and others, we will have to take care of that, especially if they are students.”
She stressed that though the virus and lack of PPEs played a major role, inadequate staff strengthen also contributed to the closing down of the facility.
“If there were to be four staff here, with this pandemic at least two or all can be running a shift system but how can one person alone do that. Mind you, that the museum served not only the Upper East region but the four regions of the north. Northern, North-East, Upper East and Upper West Regions.”
Meanwhile, the Minister-designate for Health, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu on his ministerial vetting in Parliament on Wednesday, February 10, 2021, revealed that his outfit spent over $100 million in its effort to fight the Covid-19 pandemic in the country last year.
The question many lovers of the museums, however, were asking including staff of the Upper East museum was that has government forgot to allocate a percentage to museums in the country in these trying times or it is only the Upper East Regional museum that has not been attended to.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Moses Apiah|Ghana
