Speaker Mike Ocquaye
After two Members of Parliament and five parliamentary staff were asked to undergo self-quarantine last week, eight more MPs have been ordered to do same for the mandatory 14-day period before returning to work, following their recent trips abroad on national assignments.
The announcement was made yesterday by the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Oquaye, who failed to name the eight MPs.
“You don’t expect me to mention names. This is not done anywhere with regards to these conditions. They are in self and voluntary isolation under the supervision and advice of our medical doctor and the Clerk to Parliament. You don’t go about issuing details of names and all that. We are handling a matter in a very professional manner,” he said.
Confinement
Throwing more light on the issue, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah- Bonsu, debunked the assertions that the eight MPs were held in mandatory quarantine in a hotel in Accra.
“Those of them that the Speaker alluded to were members who attended statutory meetings on behalf of Parliament and they had these engagements outside the country.
“We have informed them to stay away and be in voluntary confinement. Fortunately, they all arrived before the broadcast by the President over the weekend so they have not been quarantined in hotels. They are conforming, we are told,” he said.
Binduri and Ayawaso East MPs
Last week, MPs for Binduri and Ayawaso East, Robert Baba Kuganab-Lem and Mahama Nasser Toure, respectively, with five parliamentary service staff, who had travelled outside the country recently, were ordered to be in self-quarantine.
The two MPs recently returned to the country from Japan and India respectively.
The Majority Leader said the persons concerned were to observe the necessary protocols to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, in case they got infected when they travelled outside the country.
Other jurisdictions
In neighbouring Burkina Faso, six Ministers of State have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
The confirmation of their cases contributes to the country’s jump in new cases to 99.
“The rumour has become reality…I have just been notified that I have COVID-19,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Alpha Barry said in a tweet late on Friday, referring to media speculations about his health.
Simeon Sawadogo, the Minister for the Interior, also confirmed in a Facebook post that he had tested positive. The Education Minister, Oumarou Idani, also announced that he was positive.
Source: Daily Statesman
