Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu has accused President Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP government of failing to adequately predict the devastating effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on Ghana.
This failure, he said, has caused a major tumult on social life and the economy because the administration was grossly unprepared to soften the blow for the most vulnerable when the lockdown became necessary.
“This inept, partisan and disastrous manner government distributed food relief only exacerbated the risk,” he stated
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu leveled the accusation at a press conference that he addressed in Parliament on Thursday, May 7, 2020.
According to him, President Akufo-Addo failed to institute the needed measures when the virus was first confirmed in Ghana but was rather gamboling in Europe even though the alarm bells of the impending pandemic were ringing.
The Minority leader expressed worry at the sharp rise in the number of reported cases in the last two weeks and stressed attempt to downplay this fact is unacceptable.
“Ghanaians expect the professionals entrusted with responsibility for managing the crisis to be forthright and refrain from interpreting data that is not grounded in the science of the pandemic,” he cautioned.
He noted that a recent statement by a member of the National Response Team that Ghana’s coronavirus case count has peaked in terms of the number of infected persons, only present false hope leading to people dropping their guide.
He said, “Misuse of such terms without empirical basis appears to be designed to fit into a certain narrative ahead of the President’s next broadcast.”
“It appears to be part of a strategy to create an atmosphere of normalcy in the lead to the next presidential broadcast and as for the reason; your guess is as good as mine.”
“Evidently, President Akufo-Addo seems more interested in his re-election than in the safety and life of Ghanaians. That fact keeps unfolding,” he added
Ghana’s coronavirus case count hit 3,091 Thursday, the second-highest in West Africa after Nigeria which has reported 3,145 cases.
He warned that in hindsight of the population of these two countries, it should serve as a wakeup call that the time for wishful thinking is over especially with government’s response that has so far been slow and based on loose interpretations of the science, and which, most often than not, is detached from the facts on the ground.
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By Uthman A. Marani/Frontpageghana.com/Ghana
