Lockdown lift: Ghana would have come to a standstill - Allotey Jacobs

Allotey Jacobs, former Central Regional Chairman of the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), has backed President Nana Akufo-Addo's decision to lift restrictions on movements in the country.

President Akufo-Addo enforced a partial lockdown on Ghanaians following the outbreak of Coronavirus and also introduced restrictions on public gatherings resulting in the closure of schools and all religious gatherings.

The President's lockdown directives were in line with his goals to ensure the Coronavirus pandemic is well managed and to safeguard Ghanaians.

The President found it prudent to lift the lockdown which lasted for three weeks to give the citizenry freedom of movement and also provide relief to traders in the country but his decision was met with agitations from some Ghanaians and particularly the leadership and members of the opposition National Democratic Congress.

According to the National Democratic Congress, the lifting of restrictions on movement was premature looking at the rise in the case count of COVID-19 in the country.

Addressing the issue on Peace FM's flagship programme, 'Kokrokoo', Allotey Jacobs believes the President took the right decision by lifting the lockdown.

In his candid opinion, "if the President had not lifted the ban, Ghana's economy would grind to a halt. I believe so too, very seriously".

Ghana has since recorded 1,671 COVID-19 cases from over 100,000 samples tested and 188 recoveries with 16 deaths.

Though the numbers seem overwhelming, the positivity rate of the virus infection is below 2 percent and this is seen as one of the lowest worldwide.