Be with us on the border closure

Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

Information minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah urged residents of border communities to accept the government’s decision on the continued closure of the country’s land borders.

Citizens, including those of Aflao, which is home to Ghana’s busiest border, have repeatedly, including staging a protest, called on the government to open and regulate borders to alleviate economic and non-closure hardship. had inflicted on them.

Ghana’s borders (air, land and sea) have been closed to human traffic from midnight on Sunday March 22, 2020, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of measures to contain and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the country whose air borders were later opened.

Nkrumah, responding to concerns about the border closing when he engaged the media on a tour of duty in the Volta region, said the closure of more than a year and a half currently inconvenient citizens, especially border residents, was intended to protect people’s lives.

He noted that the government was uncomfortable making the embarrassing decision but had to do it for the benefit of all, hoping that the results of regular consultations with public health experts would recommend opening the borders. land as was the case leading to the opening of the air borders saying: “the government is ready to open the borders”.

Mr Nkrumah said that the concerns of the people of Ketu South as being the municipality hardest hit by the border closure directive given its economic implications without any suitable intervention program for them would be considered for the necessary measures. .

The Minister’s visit to the region as part of his national tour which saw him visit the regional offices of the Ghana News Agency, the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and the Department of Information Services was aimed at sharing programs that the government was implementing and to gather feedback to shape policies and programs to benefit the people.

He urged the media to play a crucial role in supporting the government’s efforts to ensure the country’s “rapid recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic” by educating the public on the reality and existence of the pandemic, by encouraging her to take COVID-19. -19 vaccines and strictly observe the preventive label.

Mr. Nkrumah said the government was stimulating the injection of GH ¢ 100 billion from public treasury and private investment into the economy under the “Ghana Cares Obatanpa” project and called on the media to help educate the public to use it to create jobs.

“If a country is an aggregate of how you feel in your home and what you see in your business, how can we say the country has not been affected by COVID and the government is simply exaggerating,” said the minister is asked to those underestimating the impact of the pandemic on the economy and instead blaming the government for the economic slowdown by saying: “this cannot be the case”.

“COVID has had a very significant negative impact on the Ghanaian economy and therefore the government’s goal is to very quickly recover the Ghanaian economy from the ravages of COVID so that we can bring back growth so that lives improve. “

The minister also revealed that the ministry is collaborating with other organizations on media support programs; a coordinated mechanism on the safety of journalists and capacity building of the media which would ultimately aim to protect journalists and enrich their work.