President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
•Akufo-Addo says the borders will be opened when health experts say it is safe
• The borders were closed to control and regulate the spread of COVID-19 pandemic
• Ghana’s borders have remained closed in March 2020
President Akufo-Addo has said until health experts have ascertained that reopening of the land borders will not pose any problems, they will remain closed.
According to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, COVID-19 still poses danger on the health of Ghanaians thus the reopening of the borders poses a huge risk explaining that it is difficult to control human contacts. He added the challenge with contact tracing and testing stating that some individual resort to unauthorized route into the country.
For the president, until the country is sure it has a strong control over the pandemic, the borders will remain closed.
“The land borders pose a different kind of problem. You have got unauthorized ways of coming into the country, controlling that is still difficult. It is doubtful the system of testing at the borders can be as rigorous as they are at Kotoka,” President Akufo-Addo said.
His statement falls on the back of the recent demonstration of residents of the Elubo in the Western Region demanding the reopening of the border.
Aside the demonstration in the Western Region demonstration demanding the reopening of the land boarder, the residents of Ketu South also embarked on a demonstration of the Aflao border on August 27,2021.
The indigenes said the continuous closure is affecting their livelihoods and other trading activities.
But Akufo-Addo explained that, “There are lots of our people who are doing this coming and going on a daily basis [at land borders], how are we going to test people? Until we are sure that we have strong control over it, we need to be careful.” Joy News quoted the president.
He also reiterated that the airports are operating because there is a system put in place to regulate the movement and contact of people that is able to prevent situations that can increase the country’s COVID-19 cases.
Ghana’s borders were closed in March 2020 on the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
Whilst air borders were reopened in September 2020, land borders have remained closed.