The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Minority in Parliament has urged the Akufo-Addo government to not hasten to relax the restriction protocols in order not to further expose the public to the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
The Minority was of the view that President Akufo-Addo erred when he ordered the partial lifting of the lockdown, which, as a result, cases of infections and deaths of the virus have increased astronomically.
To protect the public from further exposure to the disease, the Minority is, therefore, demanding a new policy approach based on science, and borne out of the need to preserve human lives and protect the health system.
Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu said this while addressing a press conference on “Ghana’s worsening Covid-19 situation and the national response” on Wednesday, May 7, 2019.
According to him, Ghana’s case count is now among the most infected countries in Africa, adding that this has frightening prospects, which demands an urgent change in strategy.
“As the signs dictate, this cannot be the time for further easing of restrictions. We expect a more proactive policy response. We should be fighting the virus ahead of it, and not from behind.”
Mr Haruna Iddrisu accused the government that, right from the word go, its response to the crisis revealed a lack of foresight and a fundamental denial of the nature of the foe “we face in COVID-19.”
Per his observations, instead of the government focusing on coming out with innovative ways of tackling the disease, it was rather engaging in grave public relations (PR) gimmicks that compromise on public safety.
He adds: “As already alluded to, this manifested itself in the failure of government to prioritise planning and preparations for COVID-19 during the many weeks after the declaration of a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation on January 30, 2020.
“Meanwhile, structures put in place by the government to manage the virus were inadequate, and, as a result, did not aid the country to enhance its surveillance, detection and testing capacity of cases.
“They sat idly by, failing to provide the initial GH¢35 million needed for our preparedness plan, despite seeing the havoc it was wreaking all over the world, and made almost no provisions for the eventuality of an outbreak in Ghana, relying instead on false hopes around climate and genetics. The WHO country assessment which followed at the time vindicates our position.”
The government was said to have failed abysmally to anticipate the devastating effects that a COVID-19 outbreak would have on social and economic life, and could not put together measures to support most vulnerable people and households during the partial lockdown.
“And to conceal that failure to shirk responsibility for its consequences, they prematurely lifted the restrictions on movement, against the advice of some of the most respected authorities on public health in Ghana,” he stated.
He also advised the government against singing its own praises and rather commended the scientists at Noguchi and all other testing facilities for the commitment they have shown in this national effort so far.
Although the cases are increasing, he noted that the government was selling false hope of a situation under control and using its management of information as a cover for this farce, stressing: “That insults the intelligence of the Ghanaian people and makes a mockery of the seriousness of the situation. Candour and consistency must be the order of the day.”
The Minority Leader added that testing, tracing, monitoring and isolation should be necessarily a daily routine
Mr Iddrisu castigated the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, for coming public to make claims that Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) allocated to health workers were being stolen.
He urged him to instead take the appropriate action to order investigations into the stolen items, rather than ridiculing the entire health workforce.
The Minority Chief Whip, Alhaji Mohammed-Mubarak Muntaka, on his part, added that if the government was serious about combating the virus, it could have embarked on massive institutional testing, of all parliamentarians, judges and other officers in public institutions.
The post Don’t relax Covid-19 restriction -NDC appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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