Breaking News
Login
Pan African Visions

COVID 19 PANDEMIC: Security Analyst Predicts danger As Ghana lifts ban on movements

April 20, 2020

By Ahedor Jessica

President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana has lifted a three-week lockdown in two cities, citing improved coronavirus testing and the "severe" impact of the restrictions on the poor

Security analyst, and the Executive Director of Jatikey Center for Human Security and peacebuilding, Adib Saani has cautioned against the government’s decision of lifting the three weeks old partial lockdown of Accra and Kumasi calling it a dangerous gamble that could backfire. 

Saani who is worried the President’s decision could lead to peak mortality in the coming days opined, almost all world leaders including US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who ignored WHO warnings, and are now licking their wounds today.

‘’I am not sure we would want to get there. Besides, how effective would enforce the social distancing protocols be?’’ Pointing out to the president’s reasons of economic hardship and cry by many Ghanaians during the partial lockdown, he explained we could handle the economic issues with another strategy. 

“I appreciate the untold economic and social hardship this lockdown is posing to the ordinary Ghanaian. But we are in desperate times and desperate and sometimes tough measures would have to be adopted for the greater good of public health and safety,” Ghana, the west Africa nation is the first on the African continent to lift the ban on movement effective Monday 20 April 2020. 

The restriction on movement from the county’s - Greater Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi metropolis was earmarked as a hot spot of the corona virus since the outbreak of the virus. According to the president, over 68 thousand cases were tested making Ghana the first African country to have tested this number in the sub-region. Social distancing and other protocols to contain the spread of the virus remains in force. 

The President who was addressing Ghanaians on the current state of the virus in the country says, the decision, by government to lift the ban on movements is in line with the opportunity to contain the spread of the virus, scale-up effectively and the tracing of persons who had come into contact with infected persons, test them for the virus, and quarantine those who tested positive and isolate them for treatment. 

In a live televised address to the nation on Sunday, April 19, 2020, the president outlined 10 reasons backed by data from the country’s scientific world stressing those whose livelihoods are threatened by the lockdown. The nation as of 19th April 2020 awaits the remaining test results from some 14,000 samples taken. Ghana’s total case is 1042 with 9 death and 99 recovered cases.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Pan African Visions
South Africa:F.W. de Klerk and Deep Scars of Apartheid …Part I
April 20, 2020 Prev
Pan African Visions
UN Goodwill Ambassadors Idris and Sabrina Elba launch appeal for International Fund for Agricultural Development's (IFAD) $200 million coronavirus relief fund for rural communities
April 20, 2020 Next