The Presidency is reportedly caught in confusion over whether or not to order a national lockdown amidst the rapidly escalating rate of the deadly Covid-19 coronavirus.
There are two divergent opinions about the decision as the Jubilee House is put under pressure over which suggestion to agree to.
For instance, the Ghana Medical Association, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and several others have called for a lockdown, the Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, a research Scientists from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Michael Owusu and several other civil society groups are of the view that a call for a national the lockdown was premature at the moment.
The confusion heightened today when President Akufo-Addo told the TUC that his government is not considering a lockdown currently, because of the implications, it will have on many people.
According to him, although the country is recording more coronavirus cases, the government is still monitoring the situation and will implement decisions that are in the best interest of all.
“Now people are talking about a lockdown in Ghana and this and that but we should know that the majority of people will be affected. The ordinary Ghanaians are the ones that will be most affected and it is important for us who have to take this decision to take into account, their circumstances and conditions,” the President said in a meeting with the TUC today March 26, 2020.
“If you lockdown Accra, what are the consequences? If we lock down the country, what are the consequences? A responsible government is required to look at all this before decisions are made and that is the exercise on which we are currently engaged,” he said.
“I am hopeful that sooner than later, we will come to an agreement within government on the way forward and the Ghanaian people will be informed. But I want to assure you that the matters you have put on the table are matters we are actively deliberating on,” President Akufo-Addo said.
Meanwhile, the umbrella body of traditional rulers in Ghana-the National House of Chiefs has called on the government to immediately lockdown the Greater Accra Region and Ashanti Regions which are currently the epicentre of infections in Ghana.
In a statement issued on March 25, 2020, the traditional rulers think a lockdown of these epicentres will slow down the spread of the virus which has infected 132 Ghanaians and killed four in less than two weeks of outbreak in the country.
“…based on data gathered, you can be able to target specific places and lock these places, for perhaps 21-days [and] do mass testing to ensure they are negative and then move on to another place,” Dr. Owusu from KNUST suggested.