The Chiana-Paga constituency chairman of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), James Kupanamo has said the efforts by government to contain the spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) is woeful and no match to what Former President John Dramani Mahama did to tackle the Ebola disease outbreak during his tenure.
He said unlike the erstwhile NDC government which had a better approach and placed several interventions to ensure the Ebola Disease did not get into the country at the time, this government has failed to attach the needed seriousness resulting in the fast spread of the Coronavirus Disease.
Speaking on the sideline to GhanaWeb’s Senyalah Castro after the party’s Parliamentary candidate made a donation of some medical supplies to the Kasena-Nankana West District health directorate in Paga to help fight the coronavirus, Mr. Kupanamo said government should immediately deploy preventive methods to curb its spread to the regions without cases and double efforts to reduce the infection among the people.
“Government’s attitude and approach towards the fight against the Covid -19 is very appalling. It is very appalling. I am saying this because if you compare the approach of this particular government to when John Mahama was president and how he fought the Ebola outbreak, you will see that the seriousness attached to the fight is not same with this current government. It isn’t what we are seeing today”.
“You’ll realize that almost every region is becoming infected. As I speak now, about 8 out of the 16 regions have confirmed cases of the disease. This suggests that very soon all the regions in Ghana will have cases. So we thought government would have been very serious with efforts to resource the Ghana Health Service and Information Service Department very well so that they can go into the various communities and educate the people in various languages”.
“Government must stop the delay and increase its efforts in every way immediately to prevent the disease from spreading and causing havoc”.
Mr. Kupanamo lamented the porous state of the country’s border with neighbouring Burkina Faso, which has been hard hit by the pandemic and urged the government to increase the presence of the security services and equip them to regularly patrol Ghana’s territories. He also urged the government to provide the appropriate agencies and departments with adequate logistics to enhance public sensitization and awareness creation in the district.
“I’m a native of Paga. I grew up here and I know the nature of the border. It is very porous. Even though there is a closure of the borders in Ghana, people still move into the country every day through this one. People come in on motorbikes through unapproved routes too. They can bring the infection and so government must put a lot of seriousness along the porous borders and also increase the number of the security personnel patrolling the border. Security should seriously be beefed up here”.
The outspoken chairman called on the citizenry to adhere to all preventive and precautionary measures to broaden the chances of eliminating the disease completely from the country.
He called on local bar and restaurant operators within the area to abide by the guidelines given by authorities and ensure hygienic environments to reduce the spread of the viral disease.
On the donation, the chairman said it was the first of a series of interventions to support the health directorate prepare adequately against the pandemic.
The party Parliamentary candidate, Thomas Adda Dalu, donated supplies including 100 pieces of reusable and disposable gowns, 50 pieces of Face Visors, 45 boxes of face masks and gloves, 68 boxes of liquid soap and gallons of alcohol-based hand sanitizers and 50 ‘Veronica Buckets’ complete with stands.
Mr Dalu said his gesture was to complement efforts by the health directorate in preparing staff, especially the front line workers, to enable them go about their duties without fear.
