Insiders at the Jubilee House are telling Whatsup News how President Akufo Addo has been caught in a state of confusion over what to tell the Ghanaians public in his regular Covid-19 public addresses.
The President is expected to make another public address today Sunday, April 19, 2020, but have struggled to piece together a message to the public. Today’s address was pre-recorded and it took the President more than three days to piece the content together.
The national Covid-19 addresses have always been pre-recorded, but the latest one is reported to have particularly stressed the President, as the content had had to be fine-tuned several times.
Today’s address is the seventh in a row since Ghana recorded its first Covid-19 cases mid-March 2020, and he has used the addresses to announce important government policies such as the lockdown and restrictions on mass gathering.
He has also used the addresses to announce issues relating to financial commitments to the fight against Covid-19. At the risk of sounding monotonous or usurping the duties of the Minister of Information, the President had reportedly been reluctant about today’s national address.
Critics have pointed out that the unusually regular appearance of the President to announce incentives to the public may have political undertones as political campaigns have been hampered by the deadly flu-like pandemic, and that the only way the President could win the hearts and minds of the populace before the December presidential elections is for him to take full advantage of the national addresses.
Meanwhile, Ghana’s infection rate had continued unabated with the latest data showing 834 infections-the third-highest in West Africa
Whatsup News has gathered that the President is likely to announce relaxation of the lockdown directives imposed on certain parts of the country.
For instance, public transportation can operate but strict social distancing observed; a shift system in place at workplaces and more relaxation on the movement of people in Accra, Tema, Kumasi, Kasoa and Obuasi, which have been on lockdown for over two weeks now.
Meanwhile, churches and other places of worship will remain close.