Govt has lost battle to contain coronavirus – Mahama

Former President John Mahama has said the Nana Akufo-Addo-led government has lost the fight to contain the coronavirus in Ghana and has since been seeking herd immunity.

The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said on Thursday, June 18, 2020, during his #JohnMahamaLive session on Facebook that evidence that the battle to contain the virus has been lost is the increasing number of cases being recorded in the country.

“The strategy of this government is to seek herd immunity. They had lost the battle to contain the virus so it was like ‘ok let’s open up; let’s ease things and let people go about their business and if a lot of people get infected with the virus, the virus will have nowhere else to go and it will disappear.’

“And so they’ve been seeking herd immunity. And that is why the figures continue to go up,” he described the government’s approach to fighting the disease.

According to Mr Mahama, public education on the virus has also been very poor, and as a result of that “people are just living their lives, that's how come the virus is spreading some more.”

Herd immunity occurs in a population when there is resistance to the spread of a contagious disease within the population that results in a sufficiently high proportion of individuals becoming immune to the disease.

According to Mr Mahama – whose Facebook Live sessions are part of his campaign to re-enter the Jubilee House in the December elections – the herd immunity approach has proven detrimental to countries that have adopted it.

“It’s been done in countries like Brazil and if you go and see the [number] of people who are getting infected and those who are dying, I think it is not something that I believe we should copy,” he said.

Mr Mahama also lashed out at President Akufo-Addo’s handling of the virus when he said it has been dominated by political interest and propaganda.

“You cannot do propaganda with a pandemic. Lining up Council of State members, chiefs, student groups to the seat of government to congratulate the President on his handling of the pandemic will not let the virus go away.

“The infections and deaths will ultimately expose you,” he added.

He was referring to a speech by the Chairman of the Council of State, Nana Otuo Siribuo II, which extolled the President’s handling of the COVID-19 case in Ghana.

Nana Otuo Siribuo II had said, among other things, that the regular updates by the President through the nationwide broadcasts have brought encouragement to the country.

John Mahama advised the government to listen to the experts and scientists in the fight against the virus.