Former Member of Parliament for Mpraeso and member of the New Patriotic Party, Seth Kwame Acheampong, has rejected claims that leadership is to be blamed for the surge in numbers of COVID-19 cases in the country, stating that the decision to send the country into lockdown was the first pragmatic step the president took.

He stated that for the president to have taken such a major decision that massively affected the economy, even at such an early stage of the virus in the country, it becomes untenable that anybody will state that his leadership failed the country in this fight.

“That was the first pragmatic decision the president took and I believe that it was the first direction of leadership that a responsible administration would embark upon because as a people living within our freedoms, the only way we can exercise our rights is to adhere to the rule of law,” he explained.

The former Legislator was responding to claims by Member of Parliament for Tamale North, Alhassan Sayibu Suhuyini, that failure on the part of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is the reason Ghana’s COVID-19 cases are rising sharply.

“Leadership has failed us, unfortunately,” Suhuyini said.

In furtherance of his response, Seth Acheampong said, “Let us be real. At the upsurge of this pandemic, epidemiologists warned that in the history of these pandemics, there would be a reoccurrence of what they call a second wave. And at the upsurge of the second waves, they are more aggressive than what we witnessed.”

He stated that this is public knowledge and that the leadership of the country cannot be blamed for any such thing.

“If we say that leadership has failed, then we have all failed as a people because we have failed to admonish ourselves,” he said.

Ghana's current COVID-19 cases are at 57,714 with 346 deaths and 1776 active cases - the highest since the pandemic was first recorded in the country.

Seth Acheampong and Alhassan Suhuyini were speaking on GHOne Tv’s GH Today show on Monday, January 18, 2021.