President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo addressed the nation for the fifteenth time, on measures government has taken to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
The president amongst other things hinted that Ghana’s airport may be opened on the 1st of September after an assurance from the minister of aviation and minister of health, that it is safe to do so.
He also said he has directed the minister of gender and social protection to provide one hot meal a day for teachers and students who are writing their final exams effective 24th August to 18th September.
Akufo-Addo responded to John Dramani Mahama over his claims that the government providing freebies to the citizenry instead of empowering them to provide for themselves.
He said his administration is not providing freebies, but rather a critical help to households, families and businesses in the midst of the pandemic his government cares about the people of Ghana.
He also expressed gratitude to the Electoral Commission for organizing one of the most peaceful voter registration exercises.
Read his full speech below:
Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.
Today is the fifteenth (15th) time, since the virus came to our country some five (5) months ago, that I have come to provide you with the status of our coordinated efforts to defeat COVID-19.
I must thank you, again, for welcoming me into your homes, and I must repeat how proud I am to be your President in these difficult times. I appeal to all of us to continue in our individual and collective efforts to help contain the spread of the virus in our country.
We have been through several phases of the fight against the pandemic, we have put in place restrictions to our everyday lives, indeed, of which some still remain, and we have gradually moved to restoring normalcy in some aspects of our lives.
Over the last few weeks, the cap on the number of persons going to church and mosque has been lifted, albeit with strict social distancing; our final year students in university, senior and junior high schools have returned to school to write their final examinations; and the Electoral Commission has just completed the successful compilation of a voters’ register ahead of the conduct of the 2020 general elections in December.
On behalf of the people of Ghana, I congratulate warmly the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs. Jean Mensa, her two Deputies, Dr. Eric Asare Bossman and Mr. Samuel Tettey, and the entire Commission for the efficient, safe, transparent nature of the registration exercise, where, for the first time in our nation’s history, Ghanaians were provided with daily updates of the numbers of eligible voters registered, together with a specific age, gender, regional breakdowns, and breakdowns of identity documents.
All eligible voters were given the unfettered opportunity to register, a process that was fully embraced by the mass of the citizenry. Of course, there were genuine and understandable concerns about conducting such a complex exercise, involving millions of citizens, at this time. But, at the end of the day, Ghanaians did their civic duty, by going out to register, having found that the process was overwhelmingly orderly, peaceful, and safe.
However, there were those who expressed various degrees of hysteria and negativity towards the exercise, with some, who swore heaven and earth to resist the compilation of the register at the peril of their lives, ending up registering. There were also those who offered delicate, personal sacrifices in the event of the register, again, ending up registering. And, there were those who claimed that, in the midst of a pandemic, the registration exercise should not be conducted, with some warning of an “explosion” in our case count and very high numbers of deaths, should the exercise go ahead.
By the grace of God, the work of the Electoral Commission, and the effective measures put in place by the Government, these prophecies of doom did not materialize. There were, nonetheless, deeply regrettable, isolated incidents of violence, which I condemn unreservedly, and which I expect the Police to deal with without fear or favour, but the exercise was generally peaceful.
The Ghanaian people have, by the conduct of this exercise, demonstrated our commitment, once again, to consolidate our status as a beacon of democracy on the continent and in the world.
The professional Jeremiahs and naysayers, who seek, cynically, to make a profitable industry out of spreading falsehoods, fear and panic, stoking divisive, ethnic sentiments, underestimate the resolve and the determination of Ghanaians to build a united, democratic, peaceful, prosperous, and happy Ghana. We will continue to work hard to prove them wrong.
Fellow Ghanaians, when I delivered Update No. 14, some three (3) weeks ago, I indicated that a closer look at the data points to the fact that we are steadily on the path towards limiting and containing the virus, and, ultimately, defeating it, and requested all of us to pay particular attention to the number of active cases.
As at 24th July, the number of active cases, i.e. persons with the virus, stood at three thousand, three hundred and seven (3,307). As at Saturday, 15th August, three weeks later, the number of active cases stands at one thousand, eight hundred and forty-seven (1,847). This is a clear indication that Government policies are working.
Currently, there are no recorded COVID-19 cases in the North East, Savannah, Upper East, and Upper West Regions, and I charge their residents to do everything possible to maintain that situation. Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central, Eastern, and Western continue to be the Regions with the highest number of active cases. Thus far, a total of forty thousand, five hundred and sixty-seven (40,567) persons have recovered from the virus.
This means our recovery rate has improved from eighty-nine-point five percent (89.5%) to ninety-five-point one percent (95.1%) in three weeks. Our death rate continues, mercifully, to be low at zero-point five percent (0.5%). Happily, there are no backlogs of tests at any of our testing centres, meaning that situational reports are up to date. Indeed, test results that used to take weeks are now available within forty-eight (48) hours. We have, so far, conducted four hundred and twenty-seven thousand, one hundred and twenty-one (427,121) tests.
These statistics undermine, as unfounded, the claim that Ghana has lost the battle to defeat COVID-19. There can only be one simple reason for this baseless assertion, and that is political expediency. But, as I have said before, do not begrudge those who make such statements, they need to make them continue to try to stay relevant.
Our health workers will forever be in our debt, for the dedication they have put in to ensure these impressive statistics. We can help them even further by continuing to adhere to the social distancing and hygiene protocols we have instituted to stem the tide of infections.
I have been encouraged by the results of a recent survey conducted by the Ghana Health Service into the use of face masks at selected locations in Accra in the month of August. It revealed that the overall intention to use face masks at the sites surveyed was very high, with eighty-two percent (82%) of persons surveyed possessing a mask.
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