Akufo-Addo’s lockdown poorly communicated,- Sammy Gyamfi

Sammy Gyamfi, The National Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has expressed worry over President Akufo Addo’s partial lockdown directives. According to the NDC,  it may lead to a huge community spread if care is not taken.

”Although the partial lockdown is laudable, the manner in which it was communicated by the President in his recent address to the nation, leaves much to be desired”. He indicated

READ: Coronavirus: Ghana’s Partial Lockdown Imposed on Selected Areas

This was contained in a statement issued by the NDC National Communications Director and sighted by NewsGhana24.com.

In the statement, Sammy Gyamfi revealed that ”the President’s failure to disallow or restrict inter-regional movements, specifically, movements from regions affected by the announced lockdown (epicentres) to regions not affected by the lockdown, undermines the very purpose of the partial lockdown”.

Full statement below:

COMRADE SAMMY GYAMFI WRITES ON PRESIDENT AKUFO-ADDO’S PARTIAL LOCKDOWN DIRECTIVE:

30/03/20

Folks, I am glad that President Akufo-Addo finally hearkened to the advice of the Ghana Medical Association, the TUC, and other Ghanaians to partially lockdown the country in the wake of the escalation of recorded cases of the Novel Coronavirus pandemic in Ghana.

READ: Ghana’s Partial LOCKDOWN panic created a terrible scene in our markets

Sadly, we’re already recording community infections of coronavirus disease in the country.

Although the partial lockdown is laudable, the manner in which it was communicated by the President in his recent address to the nation, leaves much to be desired.

I say so for the following reasons:

1. The President’s failure to disallow or restrict inter-regional movements, specifically, movements from regions affected by the announced lockdown (epicentres) to regions not affected by the lockdown, undermines the very purpose of the partial lockdown. This is likely to lead to more community spread of the coronavirus infection.

In the last 48 hours, there has been mass exodus of people from the epicenters of the virus; to other regions due to the announced lockdown. Some of these regions were yet to record cases of the virus. But the mass movement of people in buses to these areas can lead to the spread of the deadly Coronavirus.

I believe that the President could have been guided by the example of Italy which has been ravaged by COVID-19 to know that, announcing a lockdown that allows inter-regional movement before its effective date is a recipe for further spread of the disease.

Source: NewsGhana24