Former Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Crisis Communication Strategist, Koku Anyindoho has recommended government for keeping its grounds and not giving in to pressures to call for a total lockdown as Ghana fights the coronavirus.
According to him as a country, Ghana should not copy blindly and call for a total lockdown when we do not have the resources to sustain such a situation.
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Speaking in an interview on Happy98.9FM’s ‘Epa Hoa Daben,’the politician said, “The COVID-19 virus knows not child or adult but that doesn’t mean we should do whatever is happening in the European countries. Let’s not copy blindly but put in a base structure to learn from their positives. Copying blindly is one of our biggest problems we face as a country, but in this situation of the coronavirus outbreak, we shouldn’t copy blindly.”
Attributing the exponential spread of the virus in America and Italy to the recall of their citizens from China at the initial stages he said, “Some factions of Ghanaian politicians wanted us to also bring back our people from China when the virus broke. But the President stood his grounds and decided not to extradite them. If he had heeded to pressures because some politicians wanted us to copy from the Europeans, it would’ve been a terrifying situation in the country now. The President upon consultation rather decided to compulsorily quarantine anyone coming into the country. That action not only saved lives, it also saved as a lot of money as compared to extraditing our citizens from China.”
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On his authority, Ghana does not need to go on a lockdown because we do not have the necessary resources to do that. And he knows the President is seriously not considering that as an option. Koku revealed that he knows on a strong authority that experts surrounding the President have also advised him against a total lockdown.
The politician recommended the President for not panicking and taking a brash decision because he was forced to copy blinding. “The President is not panicking which is a good sign of leadership. It is in our collective interest he doesn’t panic. If that happens we will all suffer because of the decisions he will take,” he stated.
He further appealed to all political parties to put an end to partisan politics and come together to kick the virus out.