Implement airport measures at land borders – Jomoro MP tells Akufo-Addo

Land borders closure a political decision – Ketu South MP

New Covid-19 protocol takes effect at Kotoka International Airport (KIA)

Mandatory vaccination to start in January 2022 – GHS

Member of Parliament for the Jomoro Constituency in the Western Region, Dorcas Affo-Toffey, has charged President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to replicate the current compulsory vaccination for travelers arriving or leaving the country through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) at the country’s various land borders.

President Akufo-Addo in his 27th update on measures taken by government against COVID-19, indicated that the time was not right for the land borders to be reopened.

“As you know, the decision to close our borders, which are a source of livelihoods for many, was necessary because we wanted to limit the importation of the virus into the country. We are monitoring the level of the threat of the disease and ongoing vaccinations in our neighbouring countries, as soon as we are satisfied it is safe to do so, the borders will be open.

“Until then, I believe this is not the right time to reopen our land borders, especially as we are determined to prevent the 4th wave, and, as such, they will remain closed until further notice,” Akufo-Addo stressed in his address on Wednesday December 15, 2021.

But the announcement has since incensed some residents of Ketu South and Elubo who earlier in the year embarked on a demonstration to compel government to reopen the land borders.

Espousing on the development on JoyNews’ Midday News, Dorcas Affo-Toffey urged the president to reconsider his decision to have the land borders closed.

“We are not saying the government should leave it [land borders] open, we are saying that the same measures that have been put in place at the airport should be done at the various land borders so that our people will have the freedom of moving in and out so that they can go on with their daily lives,” she explained.

Already, Ketu South MP Dzifa Gomashie and North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa have criticized the president following his announcement last night.

Whiles Dzifa Gomashie says the decision by the president is not grounded in science and data but rather a “political decision”, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa believes it is ‘double standard’ on the part of President Akufo-Addo to be berating western nations for closing their borders to African countries in response to Covid-19 whiles having Ghana’s land borders closed.

“Prez Akufo-Addo gets very upset when western nations close their borders to African countries as a COVID-19 response — I share in that outrage. It’s most surprising though that he doesn’t see the obvious inherent contradiction when he continues to keep our land borders closed,” he said.