The campaign spokesperson for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) James Agyenim Boateng is demanding candour from the Information Minister as the president goes into Covid-19 isolation.
James Agyenim Boateng wants Kojo Oppong Nkrumah to tell Ghanaians whom within the circles of president Akufo-Addo is Covid-19 positive.
His statement comes after the Minister announced on Saturday that the president is going into isolation at the Jubilee House after “at least one person within his close circle tested positive for Covid-19.”
The Information Minister said on the advice of doctors, the president is from “July 4, 2020, taking a 14-day precautionary self-isolation measure in compliance with Covid-19 protocols.”
The statement did not name the member of the president’s inner circle who has tested positive.
It, however, pointed out that the president himself has tested negative “as at today [July 4]”.
But Mr Agyenim Boateng wants to understand “What exactly does the statement mean by “AT LEAST ONE PERSON within his close circle tested positive for Covid-19 today?” mean.
Further, the former spokesperson for the late former Vice President, Paa Kwesi Amissah Arthur wants to know if “there a good reason for the statement lacking precision and exactitude as regards the number of person(s) who has/have tested positive within president Akufo-Addo’s close circle? Why is it talking about “at least one person” when it could have provided Ghanaians with precise and accurate information?
“Is the statement intended to generate or encourage controversy about the number of persons infected in the close circle of the president? Does it intend that people conjure their own number(s) of persons infected in the close circle of the president? Does at least one person infected with coronavirus within the president’s inner circle connote two, three, four, five, six or more person?”
“…to the “at least one person” bit in the statement (I have already emphasised that it could mean more than one person), did that person (or persons) accompany Mr Akufo-Addo on his tour of registration centres to inspect the ongoing voter registration exercise? If she/ he (or they) did, that will certainly be nightmarish for for contact tracing,” he said.
James Agyenim Boateng also wants clarification from the Information Minister whether the president is in isolation or quarantine as the terms are different.
He cited a post on Facebook by Lovelyn Mawuena Enam which to him clarifies the two terms.
He quoted her as saying “Isolation separates sick people with a contagious disease from people who are not sick. Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick. These people may have been exposed to a disease and do not know it, or they may have the disease but do not show symptoms. In public health. The purpose is To prevent the spread of contagious Disease/ preventing exposure to people who have or may have a contagious disease.”
“Do we take it that the Information Minister did not have a full appreciation of what isolation connotes or was that his way of letting us in on the real situation with the president?” Mr Agyenim Boateng quizzed.
Source: myjoyonline.com
