The Minority in Parliament has indicted President Akufo-Addo for joining thousands of mourners who, against COVID-19 restrictions, illegally converged at the funeral of late Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie (Sir John) who had died of COVID-19.
Sir John was the former General Secretary of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Chief Executive of the Forestry Commission before his demise.
While President Akufo-Addo, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, security chiefs and several government officials had blatantly flouted COVID-19 restriction on mass gatherings, the Ghana Police Service (GPS) and government agents had just clamped down on the #FixTheCountry youth movement and prevented them from protesting against corruption and systemic failure in Ghana.
According to the Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak, the refusal of President Akufo-Addo and top functionaries of his government to respect the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (Act 1012) that the President himself had signed, demonstrates that the entire fuss about fighting COVID-19 was a mere smokescreen.
“The President owes us an apology that as a Commander in Chief he was there when this thing happened, I mean nothing could be said rather than for him to apologise to the rest of the country,” the Minority Spokesperson said.
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The videos of thousands of mourners mobbing President Akufo-Addo and his officials have gone viral and have sparked intense public anger at the open display of hypocrisy.
Thousands of Ghanaians on social media have slammed the government’s autocratic behaviour.
“We are looking at the law enforcers, we are looking forward to seeing some form of prosecution and some punishment to people who are found culpable because you can not decide to make one set of rules or Laws for Ghanaians and you will decide to break the laws at any given point in time, we don’t do that,” Kwabena Mintah Akandoh , the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Health Committee slammed the government entourage to the funeral.
“I think the President must lead by example and you have made clear laws that people should not gather more than 25 at a funeral then you have a funeral where almost all the Cabinet Ministers were present, the Vice President was present and the President himself, you and I know what killed Sir John in this country and we saw the President file past that corpse,” he added.
Several public gatherings have been squashed by the police, including peaceful protests and church gatherings.
“We are all not above the law so, in all honesty, I think that something must be done about it, the president before any prosecution must come back and address the whole nation on this matter and apologise,” Akandoh fired.
Source: Whatsupnewsghana