Ghana’s biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress, has blamed the National Identification Authority’s Ghana card registration exercise in the Eastern Region, for the spread of COVID-19 in the region, which has now recorded twenty-eight cases.
The NIA suspended the exercise after the hearing of a court injunction application filed against the process by two private citizens.
However, a statement signed by the Easter regional arm of the party, signed by regional communication officer Darlas Williams, on Saturday, said: “The failure by President Akufo-Addo to advise his appointee, Ken Attafuah, to suspend the exercise, has yielded a scary result in the Eastern Region making life uncomfortable for dwellers in the Lower Manya and surrounding Districts”.
The party said: “A number of the railway workers in Belokope Quarters, who have been infected by the disease, were spotted at New Covenant Apostle Church, a registration centre of the Ahodwo Electoral Area in the Lower Manya District. There is also the suspicion and possibility that some moved to the nearby registration centres such as E.P. Kpong Church and Kpong Presby Centres”.
Read the NDC’s full statement below:
Below are details of the statement by the Eastern NDC
Eastern Region Demands Mass Testing And More Isolation Centres To Contain The Outspread Of The Novel Coronavirus.
We have noted with grave concern the outspread of the deadly Coronavirus pandemic in the Eastern Region. Within a spate of two days, the cases have risen from 1 to 28 with the Lower Manya being the epicentre in the region.
The Eastern Region had not known or recorded any case after President Akufo-Addo gave the directives, which were considered by many others as measures to mitigate or contain the deadly pandemic from further spread.
All public gatherings including conferences, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies, sporting events and religious activities such worships in churches and mosques, were all halted for the next four weeks. Basic schools, senior high schools and universities were also shut down.
We were, however, shocked why the National Identification Authority ignored the president’s directives with impunity to continue with the ongoing Ghana card registration in the Eastern Region. The exercise, as we all witnessed, was one that brought people together and all the registration centres were overcrowded with the aged, sick and disabled.
The same registration equipment, such as fingerprint scanners, were shared by all persons who turned up to register.
The failure by President Akufo-Addo to advise his appointee, Ken Attafuah, to suspend the exercise, has yielded a scary result in the Eastern Region making life uncomfortable for dwellers in the Lower Manya and surrounding Districts.
A number of the railway workers in Belokope Quarters who have been infected by the disease were spotted at New Covenant Apostle Church, a registration centre of the Ahodwo Electoral Area in the Lower Manya District. There is also the suspicion and possibility that some moved to the nearby registration centres such as E.P. Kpong Church and Kpong Presby Centres.
After the news broke, while they were supposed to be on self-quarantine, a number of them were seen frolicking with their girlfriends in beer bars and pubs in the district, raising suspicions that they might have spread the disease through numerous chains of contacts.
This has created fear in the adjoining and contiguous districts such as Upper Manya, Yilo, Asuogyaman, Okere, Akropong and New Juaben North and South, because of daily trade across these districts by traders who might not know who has it or who does not have the disease.
We deemed it as an act of irresponsibility on the part of President Akufo-Addo not to have called his appointee Ken Attafuah, who turned a deaf ear to all expert advice, to suspend the exercise when even HE the president, had announced that we were not in normal times.
We also want to clearly state that Ken Attafuah was acting according to the orders of President Akufo-Addo in his bid to seek re-election through the use of the Ghana card, to compile the new register of voters as announced by the Electoral Commission without recourse to the safety of the electorate in the wake of the COVID-19. This was evident in the defence of the Attorney General and NIA against the injunction application by two selfless citizens, in particular, one from the Krobo area.
Be as it may, we call on the Akufo-Addo government to, as a matter of urgency, start mass-testing in the Eastern Region, most especially, in the affected areas, as an appropriate measure to contain the coronavirus from further spread.
Signed;
Darlas Williams
Eastern Regional Communications Officer (NDC)
11th April, 2020
