General News of Wednesday, 12 February 2020

Source: kasapafmonline.com

You have 72 hours to evacuate Ghanaian students in China – Minority to government

North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

The Minority Caucus has called on the Government to as a matter of urgency, evacuate Ghanaian students currently locked up in China, to a less coronavirus-prone area or back to Ghana.

They have in effect, given the Akufo-Addo-led government a three-day ultimatum to take action.

Failure to that, they noted, will see them reconvene and tell the world their next line of action.

According to them, France, United State of America, Switzerland, Philippines, Russia, Libya among other countries have all evacuated their nationals from China as a result of the CoronaVirus.

The United States of America, they noted, is even doing a second round evacuation of their nationals, urging the Government to swiftly move in to save the Ghanaian students before anything bad befalls on them.

Over 400 Ghanaian students are estimated to be in China.

At a press briefing on the sidelines of Parliamentary sitting, Tuesday, the Ranking Members of the Foreign Affairs and Health Committees, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, said Ghana has the capacity to evacuate their students from China, especially, those trapped in Wuhan, the epicenter of the CoronaVirus.

They cited war ravaged Libya as an example to buttress their argument, stressing that during the war nine years ago, Ghana was able to evacuate her nationals who were more than a thousand back to Ghana.

According to them, records released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicates that 1,016 people have been confirmed dead with 43,000 infested with the Corona Virus.

“The Government cannot be insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians. This is a humanitarian issue and the earlier the government acts, the better”, they noted.