The Police have been urged by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to arrest and prosecute persons who flout the various restrictive measures put in place by the government to help curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We cannot allow a few persons, for their narrow, selfish interests, to jeopardise the health, well-being and safety of the larger population. If you fall foul of the law, you will face its full rigours,” the President said on Sunday when he gave an update on the measures taken to contain the pandemic.
Making it his ninth update to Ghanaians, the President said, just like any other Ghanaian, he is eager to see an end to the restrictions, especially knowing the difficulties people have been going through over the last two months.
He, however, added that people need to adjust their lifestyles as the nation battles the pandemic.
“You have had to alter completely your way of life; you have had to stay at home, except for specified purposes; you cannot travel outside the country; you cannot go to Church, and you had to cancel activities usually associated with Easter; in this Holy Month of Ramadan, our Muslim brothers and sisters are having to pray at home, instead of congregating at the Mosque, and foregoing the public celebration of the Eid; parents are having to bear the extra burden of providing care for their children who, instead of being in school, are currently at home; operators of trotros, taxis, buses, markets, hotels, restaurants, bars and nightclubs have lost the patronage of their clients, and, as a result, lost much needed incomes; significant numbers of people have, unfortunately, lost their jobs because of the impact of the virus on our economy; most of us want to hang out with our families, friends and loved ones in a social setting, but cannot,” he said.
Health workers
As part of the government’s efforts to support the work of health workers, the President said, in addition to the incentive package instituted for them, 4,240,719 gloves, 2,576,333 nose masks, 60,823 goggles, 60,132 litres of sanitizers, 50,770 head covers, 41,992 gowns, 41,000 medical scrubs and 30,783 N-95 face masks have been distributed to health facilities across the country.
“Further, we have extended this gesture to other frontline actors engaged in the fight, with the presentation of five thousand (5,000) PPEs to members of the media, and tomorrow, Monday, 11th May, ten thousand domestically-produced face masks and more money will be delivered to the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), to enhance its capacity to undertake the important work it is already doing,” he stated.
The President expressed his sincerest appreciation to the frontline health workers for sacrificing their lives to see an end to the pandemic.
“Let me, once again, thank the healthcare workers, including all those responsible for the tracing, testing and treating, for their heroic contribution to the fight against the pandemic. They will be long remembered in our history. In advance, I say a hearty ‘ayekoo’ to the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, which celebrates its sixtieth (60th) anniversary on Tuesday,” he said.
Recovery plan
“I am happy to reiterate that Government is putting in place a Resilience and Recovery Plan, with the overarching aim of finding more resources to strengthen the productive sectors of the economy to ensure sustained economic activity,” he said.
President Akufo-Addo added: “We are rolling out a soft loan scheme of six hundred million cedis (GH¢600 million), in this month of May, to support micro, small and medium scale businesses, and, as you know, the commercial banks, with the support of the Bank of Ghana, have also instituted a three billion cedi (GH¢3 billion) credit and stimulus package to help revitalise industries, especially in the pharmaceutical, hospitality, services, and manufacturing sectors.”
