Ahead of an anticipated address of the nation by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, security guru, Osahene Boakye Djan, has suggested that the President should put Ghana under total lockdown.
Answering questions posed by anchor Captain Smart on The Big Agenda on Adom TV, Friday evening, the retired military major called for “total lockdown with the military at the forefront.”
However, opinions on The Big Agenda were divided. The topic was ‘Coronavirus Containment; Should President Declare Total National Lockdown?’
Political and Security Analyst and Cape University lecturer, Dr Kignsley Agyei’s answer was no.
According to Dr Agyei, if anything at all, the President should declare the Greater Accra and Eastern regions – which have the most Covid-19 cases – totally locked down.
The don requested benevolent groups rushing with food donations to divert some of their resources into education in the media and deploying community nurses to villages to educate the populace on Covid-19.
A Financial Advisory Leader at Deloitte and Touche, Yaw Appiah Lartey, was also against total national lockdown.
“If you are going to lose GH¢5.6 billion in oil revenue and GH¢2.2 billion in taxes on oil businesses, the last thing you need is a total lockdown,” Mr Larteh contended.
For him, the total breakdown of the hospitality and aviation industries; as well as the prospect of slowing all other economic activities down should be enough deterrent to President Akufo-Addo to maintain a partial lockdown.
