Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, has finally been forced to confirm that he is battling liver disease, a condition that has deformed him badly and to which Whatsup News reported about on the account of sources earlier in the year.
Opening up about his ill health, the Finance Minister, whose face has seen physical changes as a result of the disease he is battling said the liver disease is a manifestation of jaundice which could possibly be a side effect from COVID-19 that he suffered last year.
“I got COVID-19 somewhere in November and then got out of a hospital’s emergency. I came home on the 10th of December, things were pretty good when I came. Then I began to feel jaundiced. I was later diagnosed and told my liver was inflamed and required some work to determine what was really happening,” he told Metro TV’s ‘Good Evening Ghana’s Paul Adom Otchere.
It would be recalled that earlier in the year, WhatsUp News had drawn attention to Ken Ofori-Atta’s puffed-up facial features and reported that sources had explained that the Finance Minister was battling liver disease.
As he confirms, the disease is from COVID-19 which he and his wife got infected with at a victory party that had been thrown to celebrate Akufo-Addo’s bloody presidential victory in the 2020 elections.
That party said to have been thrown by a brother of the President who has is also reportedly battling serious illness from COVID-19 had been very reckless as it had happened at the time that the virus was quite active and the government had told everyone else to stay away from public places.
But the party had also been a psychological strategy as it had been held in the wake of the controversial results declared by the Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson, Jean Mensah. While the NDC was fighting the results over reported rigging, the party had been held to signal that Akufo-Addo deems himself the victor.
This was the same party that Jean Mensah herself and her mother had reportedly attended, with the EC boss’ mother catching the virus as well and being hospitalized at the University of Ghana Medical Center.
Other people who were reportedly infected include the Energy Minister, Mathew Opoku Prempeh.
Meanwhile, Ken Ofori-Atta has said the liver disease the COVID-19 infection left him has not resulted in cirrhosis, and that it is reversing. This is probably due to the quality care that he received from the Mayo Clinic in the US, the best hospital in the world.
“It took some time to find the probable cure which involved steroids and all of that. I went back for review in August. The information was that it’s pretty much gone. They are now titrating to see how to bring the steroid down so I can get back to normal life,” Ofori-Atta stated.
He has been flown over to the US for treatment amidst widespread public anger at the undue privileges that the political class accord themselves to the detriment of the taxes of the masses.
“Essentially, I’m pretty much mended. I need just to manage my rest, sleep and exercise and have some good food. We are grateful to God and other people who have us in prayers. But clearly, the DNA is strong enough to do the work I have to do.”