The youth in Elubo have said they have been running away from their communities in order to evade arrest by people they owe, and petitioned the president to reopen the land borders for them to do their business and be able to repay their debtors.
We can’t pay our creditors; open the borders – Elubo youth to President Akufo-Addo
Residents in Elubo in the Jomoro District of the Western Region say they have been fleeing from their communities to evade arrest by their creditors, have asked the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo reopen the country’s land borders.
This is to enable them to go back to their economic activities and be able to pay the loans that they have collected from people to do their business which have taken hits since the closure of the land borders in March 2020.
They bemoan that the continued closure of the land borders, which has lasted for more than a year, was adversely affecting not only their businesses but also their livelihood.
In a petition after a demonstration on Thursday, September 2, 2021, they asked that “our land borders be reopened to the free movement of persons just as our neighbouring countries, Togo, Cote D’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso have done.”
This they said was with respect to the decision made at the 58th meeting of the Heads of States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on January 23, 2021, which was chaired by President Akufo-Addo.
They stated that “businessmen and businesswomen in Elubo are not able to repay their loans due to drastically reduced patronage of goods and services coupled with expired goods.”
They further stated that “most of them (the businessmen and businesswomen) have left the border communities in order to evade arrest in respect of loan repayment.”
According to them, some youth whose day-to-day economic activities depended on the border have resorted to criminal and other social vices as alternatives to making ends meet, a situation they said they were worried about.
Parents were also finding it difficult to cater for their wards’ education owing to the prolonged border closure in Elubo according to a petition signed by the Assembly Member Elubo West Electoral Area, Nana Frendoh Bosso Kwasi, noted.
In addition, some tertiary students whose parents are now unable to cater for their tertiary education are now school dropouts, and “this has dangerous ramifications on a developing society like ours,” he stated.
On behalf of the youth, Nana Frendoh Bosso Kwasi asked the president to, consider their petition and help return life to our border communities by reopening the land borders.
He also recommended that an antigen-testing regime be instituted at the land borders, just as instituted at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to allow free movement of persons.
Gomashie Dzifa calls on president Akufo-Addo to re-open land borders
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ketu South Constituency in the Volta Region, Madam Dzifa Gomashie, made a similar call when she led a demonstration at Aflao on August 27, 2021.
She indicated that the closure of the border for more than a year now had brought untold hardship to the people as their economic activities slowed drastically.
“My people have been suffering and complaining a lot about this, and joining them to demonstrate over the issue is not about politics, but the right of my people,” she said.
A petition was presented to the president through the Ketu South Municipal Chief Executive, Elliott Agbenorwu and copied to the Togolese president, Faure Gnassingbé, ECOWAS president, Kadré Désiré Ouédraogo and paramount Chief of Aflao traditional area, Torgbui Adzongaga Amenya Fiti V.
READ ALSO: We Are Suffering – Residents Of Aflao Protest Continuous Border Closure
Majority of Ghanaians must be vaccinated before border re-opening – Dr Nsiah-Asare
Meanwhile, the presidential Advisor on Health, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, has indicated that the re-opening of the country’s land borders would require that the majority of Ghanaians are vaccinated against the Covid-19.
According to him, the government is “looking at the data, we are looking at the science and everything that is happening… The President is more concerned about the economic devastation brought by the pandemic.”
“The way to curb this pandemic, apart from the protocols, is to ensure that a lot of people are immunized. Once you get a lot of people vaccinated it means the vulnerable people in the country become less and no amount of importation will cause a devastating effect,” said Dr Nsiah-Asare.
President Nana Akufo-Addo in March 2020 ordered the closure of the country’s borders as part of efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Ghanaians.