The Minority in Parliament has set Wednesday March 30, 2022, to picket at the Kotoka International Airport to protest the continued mandatory COVID-19 testing for arriving passengers.
It has consequently informed the Ghana Police Service about the planned protest.
In a letter signed by three of its members, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Kwame Agbodza and Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, the opposition legislators say they intend to consistently hold the protest until the government cancels the mandatory testing contract with the service providers; Frontiers Healthcare Services Ltd.
“It is our firm determination to sustain these mass picketing actions until such a time that the Akufo-Addo-led government curtails the illegal, unconscionable and extortionist COVID-19 antigen testing conducted by the iffy Frontiers Healthcare Services Ltd,” part of the letter addressed to the police said.
The Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the house, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, in an earlier interview said “we want to serve notice that if by next week, the government does not reverse the fees… we are going to talk. Series of actions including public action, public manifestation and picketing at the airport until that fleecing going on at the airport is reversed,” Mr. Ablakwa said.
Former President John Mahama also in a recent post said “It is a most unfortunate situation that Ghanaians who have valid vaccination certificates cannot board flights back home without a £90 PCR test, and an additional US$50 PCR test booking in Accra,” Mahama lamented in his post.
The government engaged Frontiers Healthcare Solution Services Limited to conduct the rapid COVID-19 tests at KIA following the reopening of the airport to international passenger flights in September 2020.
The 30-minute PCR COVID-19 test initially attracted a $150 fee but was subsequently reviewed.
While the amount was maintained for non-ECOWAS citizens, those from any of the West African countries were to pay $50 for such services at Kotoka International Airport.
