Airport Tests Should Be Celebrated And Not Attacked- Oppong Nkrumah 

The Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says the current COVID -19 tests at the airport must be celebrated and not attacked.

The minister also announced that the government has no plans of suspending the tests at the airport, changing the company, or suspending the contract.

According to him, the company Health Frontiers, as contracted by the airport company Limited is providing a critical service that protects the 30million Ghanaians from the importation of cases.

Mr. Nkrumah was responding to claims by the Minority questioning the operations of the company tasked to perform that duty.

“We are very satisfied with their tests which have helped prevent 50 cases from getting into the general population as of the end of September 2020. It will be irresponsible of us to tinker with the successes being achieved so far” he said.

The Information Minister who is also the MP for Ofoase Ayirebi rubbished claims by the Minority questioning the credibility of the company providing the service at the airport.

“Their services were well procured, their standards meet global requirements and we have no qualms with them. If indeed the minority wants answers to questions, they know the appropriate place to file those questions as parliament resumes”.

He said It was sad that the NDC has at every turn sought to play politics with the management of COVID 19.

“Their scare tactics, calls to parents to withdraw wards from schools and attacks on government have all failed. This is the latest page in their book of cooked up controversies” he stated.

The Minority Caucus in Parliament has called for the immediate suspension of the ongoing COVID-19 testing at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

The Caucus has also questioned the viability of the contract awarded to a private company, Frontiers Health Care Limited, and called for its termination.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra on Thursday, 1 October 2020, the Minority spokesman on health and ranking member committee on health, who is also the member of Parliament (MP) for Juaboso, Hon. Kwabena Mintah Akandoh urged the government to engage the services of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research to carry out the COVID-19 tests instead of contracting a private institution whose charges are higher.

“We, in the Minority, have suggested to the government to utilize the services of Noguchi, who have spearheaded the testing of COVID-19 cases in our country since this pandemic took its course, instead of contracting a private institution whose charges are higher,” he noted.