President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has stated that the world should be grateful to the South African scientists, whose knowledge and expertise in genomic sequencing enabled them to identify the new variant, Omicron.
He said “Plaudits, not the condemnation of their peoples, should have been their portion. Why is there not a travel ban imposed on the Netherlands, but against South Africa, one might ask?” President Akufo-Addo asked.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said this when he delivered an address to the European Union Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
According to the President, Omicron has been discovered in over forty countries, with reports indicating that this variant was present in the Netherlands way before it was discovered in South Africa.
He used the opportunity of the platform to reiterate the strong opposition of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), of which he is Chairperson, to the decision taken by countries, including those in the EU, to single out African countries for the imposition of travel bans.
He told the EU Parliament that his government has launched Agenda 111, which seeks to build district hospitals in each district of Ghana where there is none so that ordinary people can have ready access to medical care.
In addition to this, he stated that Ghana has decided to set up a National Vaccine Institute, which will supervise the domestic production of vaccines across several sectors, including anti-COVID-19 ones, led by the private sector and business community.
“We need to be self-reliant, and shed the image of beggars living on charity, aid, and handouts, and make better and more intelligent use of our abundant natural resources, to pull ourselves out of poverty to prosperity. These are not new aspirations; they have simply been reinforced by the lessons of the pandemic,” he added.
Source: Mybrytfmonline.com/Kofi Atakora
