A special Aide to ex-president John Mahama has said the Information Minister’s statement about the self-isolation of President Akufo-Addo is "veiled and deceptive" and will not help our fight against the disease.
The campaign spokesperson for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) James Agyenim Boateng is demanding candour from the Information Minister as the president goes into Covid-19 isolation.
James Agyenim Boateng wants Kojo Oppong Nkrumah to tell Ghanaians whom within the circles of President Akufo-Addo is Covid-19 positive.
Read his full write up below . . .
I write to wish President Akufo-Addo well following a statement released a while ago by the Information Minister that the president is “taking a fourteen (14) day precautionary self-isolation measure in compliance with Covid-19 protocols” on the advice of his doctors.
While I acknowledge the information given the public on the president’s close contact with Covid-19 as an important step, it is worth pointing out that we are going to need a lot of candour and clarity in dealing with the coronavirus disease.
In the first place, the Information Minister’s veiled and deceptive statement will not help our fight against the disease.
What exactly does the statement mean by “AT LEAST ONE PERSON within his close circle tested positive for Covid-19 today”? [Emphasis mine].
Is there a good reason for the statement lacking precision and exactitude as regards the number of person (s) who has/have tested positive within president Akufo-Addo’s close circle? Why is it talking about “at least one person” when it could have provided Ghanaians with precise and accurate information? Is the statement intended to generate or encourage controversy about the number of persons infected in the close circle of the president? Does it intend that people conjure their own number(s) of persons infected in the close circle of the president? Does at least one person infected with coronavirus within the president’s inner circle connote two, three, four, five, six or more person?
I may be opposed to the president and disagree with him on policy and his highhandedness but I do not wish him struck by Covid-19.
Again, following the statement by the Information Minister, health professionals have been excited to point out the difference between the terms isolation and quarantine. Lovelyn Mawuena Enam, for example, clarifies both terms in a facebook post as follows:
“Isolation separates sick people with a contagious disease from people who are not sick. Quarantine separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick. These people may have been exposed to a disease and do not know it, or they may have the disease but do not show symptoms. In public health The purpose is to prevent the spread of contagious disease/ preventing exposure to people who have or may have a contagious disease.”
Do we take it that the Information Minister did not have a full appreciation of what isolation connotes or was that his way of letting us in on the real situation with the president? Back to the “at least one person” bit in the statement (I have already emphasised that it could mean more than one person), did that person (or persons) accompany Mr Akufo-Addo on his tour of registration centres to inspect the ongoing voter registration exercise? If she/ he (or they) did, that will certainly be nightmarish for contact tracing.
President goes into self-isolation
President Akufo-Addo has decided to go into self-isolation after “at least one person within his close circle tested positive for Covid-19.”
The statement did not name the member of the President’s inner circle who has tested positive.
A statement signed by the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said on the advice of doctors, the President is from “July 4, 2020, taking a 14-day precautionary self-isolation measure in compliance with Covid-19 protocols.”
The statement, however, stated that the president himself has tested negative “as at today [July 4]”.
That negative test notwithstanding, the statement said, the President “elected to take this measure out of the abundance of caution.”
“The President during this precautionary self-isolation period will be working from the Presidential Villa at the Jubilee House,” it stated.
Source: James Agyenim-Boateng
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Its unfortunate ndc don't know their priorities what is your business in the President's isolation ? Ghanaians want to know your running mates not heads of potential running mates ! Ghanaians want to know your policies and programs if you really a political party not pettiness ! After all npp has been candid to Ghanaians to oet them know the health status of some appointees what did you say about Prof. Mills?what did you say about john mahama when some people complained he went to South Africa for medical attention in 2012-2013 ? Hypocrites, what you think will never happen! Can we suggest ndc are spreading this virus in Accra through their thugs? Yes every evil thing is possible with the ndc what they can't do is good ! My advise to Ghanaians is "DON'T TOUCH THE HANDLES OF YOUR CARS WITH YOUR BARE HANDS" USE GLOVES OR TISSUE PAPPER TO OPEN DOORS ! GET A DISINFFECTANT SPRAY IN YOUR CARS ! Ndc are dangerous and don't care if all Ghanaians die for them to occupy Ghana ! DON'T ALLOW THEM AND "SAY NO TO NDC" this virus too WE SHALL OVERCOME!
We know you are a Lawyer and NDC member.I do't know whether it is by divine intervention or not those combination almost always produce incompitence.They never win cases,almost all of them do not have chambers of their own,you don't see any trainee of theirs who is a top class lawyer and lastly they always spew something but without honour and comprehension. Even a first year law student knows that a medical status of any citizen no matter his/her status in society is confidential unless he/she elects to disclose it?
This is what happens when persons like Agyenim Boateng, who are jobless apart from politics do. They have no shame in descending so low just to win cheap political points. Empty write up and noise as usual.
This too politics ahh NDC, mahama what a greed.
AGYENIM, BOATENG WANTED ALL TO KNOW THAT HE IS STILL ALIVE AND STILL AROUND. THIS IS ELECTION SEASON AND EVERYBODY WANTS TO BE COUNTED. WE SHALL HEAR MORE OF SUCH NEGLIGENTT STATEMENTS FROM ATTENTION SEEKERS.
The standard practice for everyone who come into contact with a Covid-19 patient is to go into self-isolation. This is the advice from WHO. Agyenim needs to educate himself.
Remember the results are not instant...... These NDC people read mischief into everything.