The speaker of Ghana’s parliament Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye has directed all legislators to be tested for the novel Coronavirus.
He gave the directive on Tuesday at the resumption of the law making house in the capital Accra. The directive for testing also affects staff of the parliamentary service.
Oquaye told the MPs that “In addition to observing the established protocols I have directed on the authority of the parliamentary service board the clerk and parliament’s medical officers to liaise with the appropriate institutions to immediately conduct testing for all honorable members and staff of the parliamentary service for Covid-19. I request for cooperation in this enterprise.”
The speaker said the compulsory testing is to compliment other measures rolled out to stop the spread of the virus.
But some MPs including the minority spokesperson on health Kwabena Mintah Akandor questioned the directive from the speaker.
The Ghanaian speaker has already tested for Covid-19 with a negative result about a month ago.
Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu assured the speaker of the cooperation of his side regarding measures needed in winning the fight against Covid-19.
Ghana’s parliament has already made it compulsory for MPs, staffers and visitors to wash their hands with soap under running water and use alcohol based hand sanitizers.
The MPs are also observing social distancing and members of the public have been banned from observing proceedings from inside the chamber.
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Source: Africafeeds.com
