The government has appealed to political parties to put aside their differences and support measures to fight the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country.
Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said currently, Ghana was at war against a ‘common enemy’ which required the collaborative efforts of all groups and stakeholders to stop its spread.
Addressing a sensitisation workshop for political parties in Accra yesterday, he said that politicisation of the fight would be suicidal to the country.
In attendance at the event were the New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Democratic Congress (NDC), Convention People’s Party (CPP), National Democratic Party (NDP) and the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG).
The meeting with the political parties forms part of the government’s broader consultation and training to equip stakeholders with the appropriate information on the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.
The meeting, according to the Minister, was also to provide the platform for engagement between the Ghana Health Service and the political parties on the virus and discuss how all stakeholders could work together to fight COVID-19.
“One of the groups that requires serious engagement is the political parties. It is because political parties among other things have very large following who sometimes belief their following more than experts. So at a time like this when you are trying to get as many people as possible mobilized to follow a particular path as part of the preventive measures, you cannot leave out political parties.
You literally on a daily basis are part of the national communication exercise and are putting out views and facts and alternative facts, so it is the reason why you have to be engaged on the dos and don’ts and also take feedback from you” he said.
Ghana, he said, has made great strides in the containment and management of the spread of the disease adding that 49 of infected persons identified through routine surveillance by health officials were responding well to treatment.
Deputy Minister for Health, Alexander Abban called for unity among political parties in fighting the disease.
“When we leave this engagement, we are leaving here as Ghanaians ready to fight this pandemic and not political parties. We need ideas that must not shape partisanship. This is not a matter to build political capital,” he added.
BY TIMES REPORTER
