Land borders remain closed until… – Prez. Akufo-Addo

• Posted on September 6, 2021September 6, 2021
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has responded to the scads of protests in border towns Elubo in the Western and Aflao in the Volta Regions against the closure of land borders. 

In an interview on Skyy Power FM in Takoradi on Saturday 4^th September as part of his Western and Western North visits to the regions, the President mentioned that he has taken notice of the protests calling for the opening of the land borders but “until we are satisfied that opening of land borders will not pose a major challenge, for the time being, they’ll remain closed.”

“Let’s all understand that the restrictions in this COVID era is not pleasant for all of us. Normally we greet and hug but all kinds of restriction are in place which are not our normal lives. But for the sake of our public health we have to put it in place” the President said.

Juxtaposing his reason for the closure of the land borders with the opening of the airport, the President mentioned that since Ghana has only one route for air travels, it is easier to control that route. 

“Our restrictions put in place remains one of the best arrangements not only in Africa but the world. An international public health survey put Ghana and South Korea in the two best managed countries as far as covid pandemic is concerned. It’s because we took these extensive measures, one of them was the closing of the borders. We are all aware that this pandemic was imported into Ghana, from abroad into our country.”

“Until we are sure that we have strong control, we need to be careful about our contacts. With the airport, we have been able to put in a first class system which is able to control the inflow of people into the country by air. Fortunately, when I say fortunately, with regards to this pandemic, we have only one airport so anywhere anyone comes into the country by air from, will be through one route. We have been able to put in place measures that have been well acclaimed and well embraced across the country. We can at least control the inflow of people into Ghana by air.”

The President continued, “the land borders pose a different kind of problem. We’ve got unattributed ways of coming in up till now and controlling that is difficult. Controlling that is still difficult, the systems of testing is difficult. Its difficult that the systems of testing at the borders cant be as rigoros as the system at Kotoka.”

“We have a lot of our people who are doing this coming and going on a daily basis, commuting to and from Ivory Coast on a daily basis. So are we going to do the testing on a daily basis? Same as people in the Volta region, they also do this between us and Togo. These are horrendous set out problems out there. Then issue of vaccinations. Are you going to insist that everyone who comes is vaccinated, are you in the position to enforce that?

You yourself how many of your people have you been able to vaccinate? So these are muscle of problems.”

Recognising the difficulty that the closing of the land borders pose to traders and those who commute daily to neighbouring countries for their livelihood, the President posited that “I have great sympathy for people living in the border areas who are having distractions involved in the closure of the borders but then with respect, they’re not unique, all of us are going through a lot of hassle of this matter. Having to break our teeth and bury it in the interest of the larger good. Our neighbors, how rigoros and how far have they gone with their own arrangements about controlling the virus? So until we are satisfied that opening of the land borders will not radically impact the spread of the infection, I would prefer to air on the side of caution in terms of wanting to protect the population.”

According to the President, protecting the population remains his topmost priority. “All the policies we will make concerning this COVID, protecting the population remain my first responsibility. That’s my first responsibility as president and I’m determined to carry out that responsibility.”

“I’ve heard about these protests and I’ve taken them into account. We have this COVID task force which has brought together Ghanaian officials; scientists, public health administrators, across the board we meet regularly. We had a meeting last week which these matters are considered all the time and we review. You should see the results of our reviews at the various different policy changes. Until you are satisfied that opening of land borders will not pose a major challenge, for the time being, they’ll remain closed and I think it’ll be better for us, for all of us to understand why we are doing these things.”

He however cautioned Politicians exploiting local difficulties for political gains to look at the bigger picture of the larger good than their parochial political interest. “The public health of our country is not a matter we should play politics with” he ended. 

BACKGROUND

Some residents of Elubo in the Western Region on Thursday, September 2 demonstrated to demand for the reopening of the Elubo border.

That followed the protest by residents of Ketu South in the Volta Region for the opening of the Aflao border a week earlier.

Residents of both border towns complained that the continuous closure of the land borders is negatively affecting their livelihoods.

As part of the COVID restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of the virus, President Akufo-Addo in March 2020 ordered the closure of the country’s borders. However, the airport was opened but land borders remained closed but only for passage of cargo.

Author: Nana Kwesi Coomson (www.233times.net) @nkcoomson on Twitter/Instagram