Professor Atsu Ayee lauds President’s directives to fight Covid-19

Professor Joseph Atsu Ayee, Senior Lecturer, Political Science Department, University of Ghana, has lauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for stepping up efforts to combat the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak in the country.

He said the Presidential directive ordering the closure of schools and universities, and banning public gatherings such as church services and funerals for four weeks to stem the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak was a good one.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Prof Atsu Ayee also commended the President for instructing the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to place a Bill before Parliament on the Presidential directive in order to give it legal backing.

Prof Atsu Ayee said the whole issue of banning social gatherings and church services in the community was a state of emergency; which in matters like these, the President had the power to declare.

“Even though the President has not said it; it is more or less a state of emergency that he has declared.”

Prof Atsu Ayee said the Presidential directive was a good way to go about the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

“This is because; you see the four weeks are very crucial that is why the President said social gatherings and funerals are banned, unless a funeral of about 25 people”.

“So, I think this is a good decision. The four weeks are important because if you look at the countries which have got it, such as Italy, Iran and India, the statistics show its rate of spreading accelerates within four weeks.”

Prof Atsu Ayee appealed to all Ghanaians to obey the Presidential directive so that the coronavirus outbreak in the country could be brought to an end. He also appealed to the security agencies in the country to ensure that the Presidential directive was fully enforced.

He said the enforcement agencies must ensure that there were no congregational services in churches and mosques.

“So, we need enforcement of the Presidential directives. I think the directives are good but the enforcement is very important,” he said.

“We also need the church leaders, opinion leaders, traditional leaders and all of us to cooperate with the Government to ensure that the virus does not spread in the country,” he added.

He said there is also the need for Ghanaians at this stage to follow the safety precaution; such as the washing of hands with soap and the use of hand sanitizers.

Prof Atsu Ayee, also called for more public education on the Covid-19, said all Ghanaians must cooperate with the Government to ensure that the spread of the disease was actually brought to an end.

He commended Nigeria for its efforts to contain the outbreak of the Coronavirus (only two cases), in spite of their size.

“I think that we must follow the protocol and ensure that we are out of it. This is very difficult, because you know Easter is coming; which is the most important festival on the Christian calendar,” Prof Atsu Ayee said.

“It means that we are going to miss Easter Conventions and all that. So it is a lot of sacrifices that all religions must actually try as much as possible to endure.

“It is a sacrifice we must all try to endure but at the end of it life is more important.”

He said if the nation was able to survive the four weeks, then Ghanaians would have more time to celebrate the other events.

He said although Christians in the country might not be able to celebrate Easter in the usual way this year, it was an annual thing; so even if they miss Easter this year, Easter would be there for the next year.

“So, we must all follow the protocol. We need every Ghanaians to be alive and that’s the most important thing. Let’s follow the President’s directive and cooperate with the law enforcement agencies,” he said.