Coronavirus: Government not contemplating to stay in power without elections - Oppong Nkrumah

Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, has said the government is not considering any alternative plan to hold on to power if election 2020 is not held as a result of COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

He stated that the government was deep-rooted in the rule of law and would only seek the extension of its mandate to govern for the next four years through safe, free, fair, and transparent elections.

Speaking at the Meet the Press on COVID-19 update, Mr Nkrumah said the government rather than hiding behind COVID-19 and contemplating an unconstitutional arrangement to cling to power, was focusing its energies to exploring innovative ways to ensure free, safe, transparent elections.

“…If countries like South Korea and Mali have successfully conducted elections in the midst of COVID-19 and Serbia, Ivory Coast, Burundi and the United States of America were looking for novel avenues to holding elections, our country will focus on finding way to conduct the 2020 December polls,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Minister said the government had requested the mission abroad to compile data on Ghanaians, who were stranded in countries to inform government policy direction and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the end of the week would receive the data.

The Minister, however, said it was untrue that data gathering process meant the government was going to evacuate the persons from their locations to Ghana.