Akufo-Addo lacks moral compass to renew EI on Coronavirus – NDC secretary

Ashanti Region Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Kwame Zu says he will be shocked if President Nana Akufo-Addo renewed the Executive Instrument (E.I) to invoke the Imposition Restrictions Act to enforce the safety protocols on Covid-19.

He adduced that the president cannot do this because he has sat at a function that the Covid-19 protocols were flagrantly flouted to the chagrin of the public.

Speaking on New Day on TV3 on Monday, June 28, Kwame Zu said President Akufo-Addo lacks the moral compass to renew the elapsed EI on Covid-19 because it seems to apply differently to the political class in the country.

And that is the discriminatory enforcement of the law, he stressed, adding that it has emboldened the general public to abandon the strict adherence to the safety protocols in the country.

The NDC Ashanti Region Secretary said the EI on COVID-19 has been used to prosecute individuals in the country since its imposition but not one politician has been charged for flouting the law even though they have witnessed politicians equally flouting the law on Covid-19, especially at the funeral of the former General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Kwadwo Osei Afriyie early this month.

Kwame Zu said he will be surprised to see the President bring back the elapsed EI to enforce the strict adherence to the Covid-19 protocols in the country.

“The President lacks the moral compass to renew the Executive Instrument because he has sat at a function where this Executive Instrument was disregarded so I will be shocked and surprised if he comes out to extend the Executive Instrument in question.

“And it better not be, it’s not a threat but I feel we have bypassed that stage. Our attitude suggests, both as leadership and citizens that we are not interested in the imposition of this Executive Instrument, let’s set it aside and move on as a people,” he charged.

He was speaking on the heels of the detection of the new Delta variant in the country and the blatant disregard for the safety protocols by the citizenry, especially over the weekend at the Accra Sports Stadium, where spectators were seen jubilating without regard for the safety protocols in Hearts of Oak’s 1-0 win over Asante Kotoko.

For his part, former District Chief Executive (DCE) of Akuapem North Dennis Aboagye disagreed with Kwame Zu, saying that “laws are there to guide and serve as a check to all of us. We have come very far as a people when it comes to the management of the Covid-19 situation”.

“If you compare us with even our neighbors in the West African area, we have done very well. Even the WHO has called out our President as one of the best in the management of the Covid-19 situation across the globe.”