We applaud your efforts, but adhere to safety protocols - Oppong Nkrumah to NGOs sharing food

The scramble for food in some parts of the country during this period of a partial lockdown has become a major cause for worry for the government, according to Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.

As a way of complementing government’s initiative to spend GHC2 million on the hot meals for needy and vulnerable Ghanaians, some NGOs and private individuals have also taken to the streets to provide food for the needy but the overwhelming numbers and rush flies in the face of safety protocols.

Over the past week, GhanaWeb reported some cases of the mad rush for food in several parts of the country including the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra.

Instead of feeding the masses, this phenomenon according to several Ghanaians is rather proving to be fertile grounds for the spread of the novel coronavirus as there is absolute disregard for social distancing.

Responding to the rising numbers of such cases across the country, the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah while commending the efforts of such individuals has called for observance of safety protocols in their activities.

He said the government will make available an outline of how to go about such activities as regards sharing food in this period to avoid the horizontal spread of the virus.

“We are also obliged to send a very strong caution at this stage to persons who are distributing food relief pack to the needy on why they need to ensure they don’t end up compromising the national efforts in the process. First of all, we applaud your service and your intentions…we are going to encourage you to do well to ensure social distancing is observed at your various distribution points,” he noted.

Adding that “The ministries of local government and social protection have issued guidelines on how we should go about food distribution and distribution of relief packs…We will be uploading these guidelines on the Ministry of Information website and social media handles…”

Kojo Oppong Nkrumah further indicated that if persons in question fail to adhere to guidelines government will not hesitate to stop them from undertaking such initiatives.