President Akufo-Addo has described the Ghanaian media as “an invaluable ally” to the government in the fight against the deadly Covid-19 coronavirus by pushing critical information to the public.
According to the President, the Ghanaian media has demonstrated that they are an important vehicle “in helping to get the information and education out there to the citizenry of our country about this new menace to the progress on the human race…and as the vehicle of accountability.”
“I am a strong believer that in all circumstances, even in the conduct of war, governments and public officials should be held accountable for what they do and you are the vehicles for accountability in our society and that is how it should be” President Akufo-Addo posited,” said President Akufo Addo when he met the leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRIMPAG) and the National Media Commission (NMC), at the Jubilee House today, Friday April 24, 2020.
This assurance from the President is coming in the heels of discrepant statistics provided by him and the research centres at Nugochi and Kumasi on the actual number of residents that have been tested for Covid-19. The official figure of some 68,000 has been challenged as to whether it is individual tests or repeated tests.
Such discrepancies and often controversial decisions around the Covid-19 fight have mostly left the Ghanaian media no choice than to be extremely critical in their reportage as purported facts become fluid.
Notwithstanding the controversies, President Akufo Addo insists that the media can still report accurately. “One thing that is important though is that there should be accuracy in what you convey, that is critical. Different perspectives, different views, different conclusions, on certain facts are inevitable, it is but of the whole process of being human, we cannot all have the sale head, God did not make it that way but we can agree on facts and as much as possible when it comes to public discourse, the truth, the accuracy of what is pervade is very critical, especially in an emergency of this nature where the slightest misinformation, slightest inaccuracy, misinterpretation can lead to a lot of grieve, and difficulty” he said.
Meanwhile, Whatsup News can report that the presidency has been overwhelmed by the uncertain chain reaction that the coronavirus disease has set off in the country, particularly in the area of health care delivery.
The Akufo Addo administration appears to have regretted not prioritising investment in health infrastructure like its predecessor.
For over three years, the current administration has virtually refused to construct new health facilities, and have mostly left the partly completed one by the previous administration to rot away.