Gov’t admits it could not have maintained partial lockdown for more than 3 weeks

The Akufo-Addo administration has admitted that it could not have maintained the partial lockdown in the country for more than the three weeks that it lasted, as it would have grounded the Ghanaians economy.

Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta said it was impossible for the government to have continued the partial lockdown imposed on Accra, Tema, Kasoa and Kumasi because the largely informal Ghanaian economy could not sustain that decision beyond the three-weeks.

Speaking at an event at the Jubilee House, the Finance Minister said it was necessary to lift the lockdown.

“When you look at what happened during the lockdown. It was quite clear after a point that given 90% of our population is informal and they go out each day to earn wages, it became increasingly impossible to continue with such a policy,” he said.

However, when President Akufo-Addo decided to relax the lockdown decree a couple of weeks ago, he claimed the decision was borne out of scientific data from health experts.

President Akufo-Addo on March 27th announced a partial lockdown as part of a controversial plan to contain the fast-spreading Covid-19 since the deadly Covid-19 outbreak was recorded in Ghana on March 12, 2020.

However, since the lockdown was lifted, Ghana’s caseload had ballooned from less than 400 infections to over 5,000 currently.