THE CHIEF Executive of (CEO) of Marrer Ghana Limited and Susatgad Boat Building and Fishing Industries, Mr Novihoho Afaglo, has said the President’s decision to lift the partial lockdown in the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi Metropolis is a recipe for disaster.
According to Mr Afaglo, Ghana was under partial lockdown when the country had 141 confirmed cases of Covid-19 “so why lift the ban when the nation has recorded 1,154 confirmed cases with nine deaths?.
“I think Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is not acting well like a father and his children the citizens like the prodigals biblically because what is the motive behind the partial lockdown when Covid-19 cases were less and lifting up the ban when the cases have now increased.”
He described the decision by the President as hasty though “we all know the pressure the system was giving him.”
Speaking in an interview, Mr Afaglo said “are we not better off keeping ourselves at home safely knowing this war against the deadly Covid-19 will soon be a thing of the past than to insist on self-freedom to go about our normal activities and end up contracting this virus when your cure isn’t guaranteed?”
The CEO said this isn’t the time for the sitting government to feel pressured by the opposition but rather take the best decision in critical times like these.
On food distribution
He criticised the decision by the government and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to distribute food to the vulnerable in certain areas during the lockdown period without ensuring strict observation of social distancing.
Mr Afaglo said the decision to distribute the food was excellent but the plain disregard for social distancing was a health risk because the Coronavirus could be spread rapidly in the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi areas due to the scramble by the people for the food.
According to him, because NADMO disregarded social distancing in distributing the food, many people tried to get access to the food, scrambled and touched each other forgetting they could contract the virus and infect a number of people at home.
The CEO has, therefore, called on the government to ensure NADMO uses a better way next time to forestall the spread of the disease.
He said NADMO should have recorded the number of people forming a household and shared the food according to numbers instead of the current approach where they sent the food to places for the people to struggle for it.
“Each Ghanaian is better off having monies sent to their phones. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo should take firm decision in this time or when this is over he would have himself to blame for lives lost in the war with this deadly virus, Covid-19.”
He said the government must learn to put the people’s interest and health above its own.