Easing restrictions 'doesn’t make sense' - Otokunor tells Akufo-Addo

The Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Boamah Otokunor has said that the Akufo-Addo government's sudden ‘softness’ on its earlier tough measures to help curb the spread of Coronavirus doesn't make any sense.

He alleged that some decisions are being introduced by government now to aid the Electoral Commission (EC) progress with its compilation of a new voters' register despite the disapproval of the exercise by some Ghanaians.

“All that the President [Nana Addo] said yesterday is for the compilation of the new voters' register. If not, I don’t think the president will ease restrictions when Ghana has recorded over 8,000 COVID-19 cases in the country. It doesn’t make sense,” he said in an interview with NEAT FM’s morning show ‘Ghana Montie’.

Final year students eligible to vote

Peter Boamah Otokunor also argued that the reopening of schools for final-year students is a “plot” by government to persuade “eligible students to register.”

“Some of the major universities like Legon are their strong centres so they have reopened for their members to register,” he claimed.

Do your work with COVID-19 in mind – Akufo-Addo to EC, NIA, NCCE

The Electoral Commission of Ghana, National Identification Authority and the National Commission for Civic Education must carry out their activities with sensitivity to the coronavirus pandemic, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo told them.

In his 10th televised address to the nation on Sunday, 31 May 2020, President Akufo-Addo said: “Constitutional and statutory bodies such as the Electoral Commission, the National Commission for Civic Education and the National Identification Authority, whose activities were exempted from the outset from these restrictions, must conduct their activities in accordance with social-distancing and the necessary hygiene protocols”.

Political Interest

But the NDC deputy chief scribe accused the President of championing his political interest rather than helping the country fight the pandemic.

“This whole agenda of fighting the virus, instead of it being driven by science and desire to protect lives and properties, it is rather underpinned by political interest. The President is doing whatever it takes to secure his second term. It’s so sad,” he told the host Kwesi Aboagye.