A Deputy Minister for Health, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye says the Electoral Commission (EC) has demonstrated its readiness to ensure compliance with COVID-19 preventive protocols during the upcoming voter registration exercise.
He says the Commission has procured the needed personal protective equipment to ensure the safety of its personnel and the public during the exercise.
“It is fair when anybody says that risk is raised when people go out to do a registration but it is because of that awareness that is why the Electoral Commission for the first time in many years or maybe the first time in our history as part of the items they have procured for this election have procured thermometer guns, face shields, sanitizers and liquid soaps why is the Electoral Commission getting all these it is because they want to reduce the risk of every person,” he said
The Deputy Health Minister made the comments on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, on Citi TV’s Current Affairs programme, The Point of View with Bernard Avle.
His comment follows concerns raised by a group of medical practitioners that Ghana’s COVID-19 situation might worsen as a result of the compilation of the new register.
The medical practitioners comprising doctors, nurses, laboratory professionals among others in an open letter to the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Madam Jean Mensa insisted that the exercise has the potential of compromising the health of the Ghanaian population hence must be halted.
“We have never expected our work as health professionals to be easy, but neither do we expect it to be suicidal. We wish to advise that caution is exercised in undertaking any activity that has the potential to accelerate the spread of COVID-19. We believe the impending mass registration exercise falls in this category and has the potential to compromise the health and wellbeing of the population leading to unwanted pain, trauma, and possibly deaths as the past few days have shown.”
The workers who are 113 in number further outlined seven reasons why the electoral management body must reverse its decision to go ahead with the registration exercise in the build-up to the 2020 general elections.
“Our intent for writing this letter is not to contest your legal mandate to compile a voters’ register, but to share with your team the potential health dangers this proposed exercise may foist on the nation, especially considering the recent wave of COVID-19 infections and deaths that continue to stretch the capacities of health care facilities; we are steadily reaching a breaking point,” portions of the letter read.
Ghana’s COVID-19 case count
As of Wednesday, June 24, 2020, Ghana had recorded 15,01 cases of COVID-19 with 11,078 recoveries and 95 deaths.
Regional breakdown
The Greater Accra Region is still leading the chart with 8,691 cases, followed by the Ashanti and Western Regions with 2,915 and 1,213 cases respectively.
Cases per Region
- Greater Accra Region – 8,691
- Ashanti Region – 2,915
- Western Region – 1,213
- Central Region – 798
- Eastern Region – 407
- Volta Region – 321
- Upper East Region – 271
- Oti Region – 105
- Western North Region – 92
- Northern Region – 77
- Savannah Region – 38
- Bono East Region – 35
- Upper West Region – 35
- Ahafo Region – 8
- North East Region – 4
- Bono Region – 3
