NDC MP accuses Akufo-Addo of taking ‘political decision’ as regards land borders

The Member of Parliament for Ketu South Constituency, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, says nothing shows that the recent decision by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to keep Ghana’s land borders closed is based on science.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP insists that the decision is purely fuelled by political sentiments.

Speaking on TV3‘s Midday Live on Thursday, December 16, Dzifa Gomashie said she is at variance with the decision to keep the borders still closed since March, 2020.

“Is that an admission of failure on his part?” she quizzed.

President Akufo-Addo in his 27th address to the nation on Wednesday, December 15 stated that the time is still not right for the land borders to be open as there appears to be a potential fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

“To my fellow Ghanaians living along the borders of our nation, I know of the difficulties occasioned by the closure of our borders,” the president said.

“As you know, the decision to close our borders, which are a source of livelihoods for many, was necessary because we wanted to limit the importation of the virus into the country.

“We are monitoring the level of threat of the disease and ongoing vaccinations in our neighbouring countries, and, as soon as we are satisfied that it is safe to do so, the borders will be open.

“Until then, I believe this is not the right time to reopen our land borders, especially as we are determined to prevent a 4th wave, and, as such, they will remain closed until further notice.”

But Madam Gomashie did not mince words over her reaction: “I am very disappointed in His Excellency’s statement last night.”

She said the situation in Togo in terms of compliance to the Covid-19 protocols is far better than in Accra, where no legislation enforces the wearing of masks and observing of the protocols, as a whole, she intimated.

“I do not agree with him that the borders should remain closed,” she stressed.

For the NDC MP, the President is rather defying the orders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the body whose foremost organ he chairs.

She observed that after leading the sub-regional body to pass laws which demand the opening of borders, President Akufo-Addo comes back home and takes “draconian decisions” to spite Ecowas.

“Why is he taking political decision with the lives of these people?” she wondered.