President of the Institute of Security, Disaster and Emergency Studies, Dr Ishmael Norman says the country’s much preparedness for the fight of Covid-19 is a hoax.
Dr Norman’s comments follow the revelation by the Finance Minister, Mr Ofori Atta that the $100m announced by President Akufo-Addo to help the country deal with the pandemic is not ready.
The Minister also indicated that processes have been initiated to seek assistance from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to address issues of the deadly virus.
Reacting to the latest development in a radio interview monitored by primenewsghana.com today March 18, 2020, Dr Norman said the President’s comment on the amount announced in his address on Covid-19 last Sunday was to deceive Ghanaians on the country’s preparedness
‘I think where we are going, if we don’t have money, it means we don’t have money to train people that are going to be on the frontline, buy testing kits, to make sure the cases we are identifying can be confirmed clinically speaking. So I think that the whole preparedness that they have been telling us that they are ready was a real hoax that they played on this country. Many of these people should lose their jobs because it is totally unacceptable for someone to tell us we don’t have enough money to buy testing kits”.
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The President in his address last Sunday made it known that the Finance Minister has been directed to make funds readily available to respond to the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the amount is to fund the expansion of infrastructure, purchase materials and public education.
But briefing Parliament about the fiscal impact of Covid-19, Mr Ofori-Atta disclosed Ghana has applied to the World Bank to tap into a $12 billion fast track Covid-19 facility and the IMF $10 billion facility to address the deadly virus.
Meanwhile, the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah disclosed that two Italians who were set to enter Ghana Monday night were stopped from entering the country.
