It’s irresponsible to peddle falsehood in COVID-19 fight – Oppong Nkrumah to politicians

Members of the opposition, politicians and individuals have been advised to desist from churning out false information that tends to create more fear and anxiety in the minds of Ghanaians as Ghana fights coronavirus.

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, in a press briefing on Tuesday condemned the practice of persons who deliberately take pleasure in such acts.

“If you think this is a good time for you to fabricate things and throw them out there for parochial political gain, then that is plainly irresponsible. To the politicians, those in the ruling parties and in opposition who think it’s a good time to be misinforming people.

“If you do that to stay in power or in a bid to win power, and it happens that by the time all those people you are channelling the misinformation to are dead, who are you going to govern,” he quizzed.

He reiterated, “It’s plainly irresponsible, now is not the time to be doing politics.”

The sector minister advised that all persons fabricating such falsehood come together to fight the COVID-19 battle.

He believed this was the time to spread facts and knowledge that can protect the entire country.

He added that after Ghana has won the fight, “we can go back to some decent politics.”

His outburst comes in the wake of news that Ghana’s COVID-19 count stood at 1,030 as of April 13, when that was not the case.

Mr Nkrumah mentioned that the investigative bodies were looking into the issue to ensure that the persons behind such falsehood would be punished.

Ghana’s COVID-19 cases, as of April 13, 2020, 11:00pm stood at 636.

The breakdown of the 636 positive cases are as follows: 17 have been treated, reverted to negative on repeat tests and discharged; 605 cases have been categorised as mild disease and are on treatment; two are categorised as moderate-to-severe cases, none in a critical state currently and eight have died.

Regions that have reported cases are Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central, Eastern, Western, Volta, Northern, North East, Upper East, and Upper West regions.