Minority Caucus calls on govt to address inadequacies in the fight against coronavirus

The Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) Caucus in Parliament on Thursday told a News conference that a sitting earlier in the day following a recall by Speaker Aaron Michael from suspension was “bizarre.”

The Speaker, citing the COVID-19 pandemic suspended the House indefinitely on Saturday, April 5, 2020, when the House was due to adjourn sine die.

Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu, addressing the journalists said the Speaker‘s conduct in suspending the House and recalling Parliament was illegal.

It was attended by the Deputy Minority Leader Dr James Klutse Avedzi, Minority Chief Whip Mohamed Mubarak-Muntaka, and some frontbenchers of the Minority in Parliament.

Calling the break “adjournment” the Minority raised issues with the sitting, saying that business of the day could have been conducted before “adjournment.”

It accused the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta of not making himself available to the House after he addressed the House on Monday, March 30, 2020, on issues relating to his request from the Government of Ghana for the House to approve an agreement with the World Bank for an amount of $35 million to support its operations in dealing with the pandemic.

The Minister made the request following a directive from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to prepare a coronavirus alleviation programme` to address the disruption in economic activities following the scourge of the COVID-19 pandemic for approval by the House.



“The Finance Minister was nowhere to be found after his Monday address despite persistent calls by the Minority Leader,” the Minority Leader said, adding that ” today’s business could have been long conducted before adjournment.”

Mr Iddrisu said President Akufo-Addo appeared not to have consulted stakeholders, on alleged confusion among stakeholders such as the Ghana Medical Association and Ghana Registered and Midwives Association.

The Minority demanded a COVID-19 Action Plan from the Government, which he said: “should be adequately costed to guide the nation’s response, preparedness, and social mitigation strategy.”

Furthermore, the Minority demanded cuts in Government expenditure to save resources to channel into the fight against coronavirus.

“In the absence of a costed plan and expenditure cuts, the Ghana Heritage Fund should be totally off Government’s contemplation,” Mr Idrissu insisted.

He added: “We demand that the COVID-19 Alleviation Programme should be implemented in a non-partisan fashion. So far we have cause to worry. We will insist on safeguards to ensure that the funds, which have been approved are not used for a partisan campaign.”



The Minority said it was not impressed with the number of persons tested so far, and that “best practice demands a more rigorous testing regime, as gold standards in Korea test 300,000 in a few days.”

Mr Iddrisu called for more testing kits, in addition to personal protective equipment, as reports of their inadequacy were worrying.

They condemned the alleged brutalizing, and abuse of human rights and security excesses during the lockdown, that led to the death of Mr Eric Ofotsu, in Ashaiman, and extended condolence to the bereaved family.

It demanded an independent investigation into all the human rights abuses during the lockdown.