Exclusion from EU list will have no effects on Ghana – Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

Government has downplayed the effects of missing out on the European Union list of travellers permitted to enter Europe from July 1.

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah posited that the action will not have any consequence on the country since Ghana’s borders remain closed anyway.

Speaking in a phone interview with GhanaWeb, Mr Oppong Nkrumah noted that government is focused on reducing the number of active cases of the fast-spreading Coronavirus.

“Our borders are closed. What it means is that even if somebody opens their borders to us, to the extent that our borders are closed even for exit flights, it will not have any consequence even if borders were opened to us at this point in time.”

“So, until our borders are opened, whatever anybody else is doing in their own jurisdiction will be of little consequence to us here, whether positively or negatively…” he added.

He also intimated that government is looking forward to making the borders accessible once the global figures ease down and the reeling effects of the pandemic reduced worldwide.

“…we look forward to a time when we can access that the global risk is low so we can open our borders, or the risk is low in some quarters so that we can open our borders there. Or a time also that the active case count will come down, as we do our best to get people to comply with the preventive etiquette,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah noted.

Ghana and its sister neighbour, Nigeria were both exempted from the European Union Commission's list of countries whose nationals will be allowed to enter Europe.

According to reports, EU officials say the decision was based on a number of scientific factors i.e:

-Ensuring that the Covid-19 infection rate in the country was low enough (where nations had fewer than 16 in every 100,000 infected)

-That there was a downward trend of cases

-That social distancing measures were at "a sufficient level"

Below is the list of the 15 countries permitted into Europe:

-Algeria

-Australia

-Canada

-Georgia

-Japan

-Montenegro

-Morocco

-New Zealand

-Rwanda

-Serbia

-South Korea

-Thailand

-Tunisia

-Uruguay

-China, subject to confirmation of reciprocity