The Minister of Information MR Oppong Nkrumah has clarified that the distribution of hand sanitizers has never been part of the government of Ghana’s programme as far as containing the spread of the novel Coronavirus, otherwise known as the COVID-19.
The main responsibility of government in this period, however, is to enhance public education and provide basic healthcare for all Ghanaians, according to Kojo Oppong Nkrumah.
He said even though some governmental agencies, private individuals and members of parliament have vastly contributed their quota to curb the deadly menace, it must not be misconstrued as part of government programmes in this period.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah explained, “There is not a government programme to distribute sanitizers to every citizen or everybody.
No, there is no such programme but the government is supporting various groups that are doing so and a lot of private individuals are also doing that…But no, it is not the standard of government to distribute hand sanitizers because I know a lot of Members of Parliament are distributing in their constituencies…what government is doing is a lot of public education to ensure that people will help us at the last mile…”
The Information Minister made this clarification at the just ended Minister’s press briefing, Friday, April 3, 2020, in Accra.
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Still, on the issue of distribution of hand sanitizers, the spread of the coronavirus caused a major spike in prices of such products in the country after it was declared as one of the main safety measures.
This subsequently ignited calls on government and other stakeholders as the church, to, as a matter of urgency, distribute such products freely to Ghanaians.
But this was vehemently rejected by some church leaders, notable amongst them was the founder of Brian Jones Outreach Ministries, Brian Amoateng, who explicitly stated amongst other things that “…it’s not the responsibility of the church to buy hand sanitizers for you because you give offering. It is not. You give offering to God to receive a blessing. It’s not compulsory that the church has to bring you hand sanitizers.”
Meanwhile, the coronavirus cases in Ghana have passed 200 and global cases have also passed one million.
