The Meridian Group of Companies has presented sanitary items worth ¢400,000.00 to the Ministry of Transport to assist it in the fight against the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The gesture, according to company officials, forms part of the Group’s corporate social responsibility, especially, at a time when the world, including Ghana, is battling the COVID-19 which has so far affected 617,084 people and claimed 28,376 lives.

Among the items are Veronica buckets, hand sanitizers, nose masks, hand gloves, Dettol, tissue paper, liquid soaps, and plastic bowls among others.

The Chief Executive Officer of Meridian Group of Companies, Charles Addo, who presented the sanitary items to the Ministry of Transport at a short ceremony in Accra on Saturday, March 28, 2020, said he was touched by the challenges the country was going through as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

He appealed to corporate bodies, churches, and like-minded Ghanaians to also make some donations no matter how small or big it is to help the government to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the country.

“What is happening in the world has affected everybody. If you look at America and how much they are worth, they are even suffering; go to Europe, they are suffering; if you go to China, they are suffering; all the rich nations are suffering.

“Then you come to think about Ghana which is a developing nation. So, you could clearly see that we are also suffering. Most of the time, when disaster befalls on us, we all turn to government believing that it has all the resources to solve it.

“But what is happening to us now is greater than any government in the world, including our own Ghanaian government. The President has told us that he has earmarked US$100,000.00 to help fight this virus.

“I am representing the private sector and making this appeal to all like-minded people to also contribute our widow’s mite to assist the President in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic”, he noted.

He added “If you are a rich man, and you have made a lot of savings at the Bank and you cannot even enjoy the money or do business with the money or even travel outside the country and trade with it or invest it in some business but rather go about roaming in your balcony or room every day then what is the essence of making that money?

“If you don’t contribute towards a worthy cause like this, then what is the essence or use of that money? If you don’t change your attitude, a time will come when there will be no water to even drink because no one will be able to go to work to turn on the taps for us to enjoy potable drinking water.

“This is the time for us to contribute towards a worthy cause”.

The Minister of Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, receiving the items on behalf of the Ministry, appealed to commercial transport operators to ensure social distancing during the two weeks lockdown of Accra, Tema and Kumasi.

He also called on Ghanaians who have nothing to do in town to stay at home, stressing that all the protocols outlined in the President’s address to the nation must strictly be adhered to.

“When we adhere to the preventive measures outlined in President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s address to the nation on Friday, we will all stay without contracting the disease. Our destiny is in our own hands. We need everybody alive”, he posited.