The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has urged the Akufo-Addo led Government to take bold steps now to give Ghana a fighting chance against the coronavirus pandemic.

The party advised the government to take emergent steps, including a phased lockdown and rapid deployment of funds to properly manage the spread of the disease.

According to the NDC, the only realistic window of opportunity available to Ghana to put in an effective mechanism to control the spread of the viral disease should be measured in days rather than weeks, as we race against time.

The party’s concerns, expressed by members of its 13-member Covid-19 Technical Team to offer its expertise to government and allied agencies in the fight against the deadly pandemic, made the suggestion and several others at a press encounter in Accra, Tuesday, March 24, 2020.

MP for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam and former Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Cassiel Ato Forson noted that “[the advised steps] or any other proposals will require the rapid deployment of funds to procure needed equipment and supplies; improve awareness and accelerate our readiness; reinforce the healthcare system; establish a morally sound safety net for the vulnerable; and safeguard our economy & enterprises against the inevitable shocks.

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"We must be able to use those funds in response to the evolving situation in the interest of the nation, which requires us to also have great flexibility to reassess and reprioritize over the coming weeks.”

The NDC Team appealed to Government “to amend the proposed utilization of the $3 billion Eurobond proceeds to make funds available to cater for COVID-19 related expenses and the possible adverse economic shocks that may occur,” saying Ghana cannot afford the waiting time for government’s entreaties to the IMF and World Bank for $1 billion to materialize.

“We harbour sincere reservations about the wisdom of that course under the time pressures we face. We are reliably informed - and the government is aware - that any such facility would not be available to us until the second or third week of April. That timeline is constrained by the meeting schedule of the boards of the respective organisations and the processes involved in receiving the funds even under emergency approval. Our current state of readiness and the exponential growth of the plague we are fighting suggests that we cannot wait that long.

"It is with this in mind that my colleagues and I wish to propose an alternative strategy that would avail Ghana immediately of the needed resources to drastically escalate our readiness and resilience.” He asserted.