Samia fights for jobless Ghanaians; calls on gov’t to provide them with support

Former Chairperson of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) , Samia Nkrumah has asked the government to as a matter of urgency to introduce and pass an Emergency Economic Support Bill to mitigate the hardship of the neediest Ghanaians affected by the COVID-19 economic fallout.

Ghana has recorded 205 positive cases of the deadly Coronavirus with five people dead.

Parts of the country including Accra, Greater Kumasi and Tema are on partial lockdown in order to help arrest the deadly virus which has taken many lives in other parts of the world.

Reacting to the development, Samia Nkrumah in a post on her social media channels said it’s imperative that the government introduce and pass an Emergency Economic Support Bill to mitigate the hardship of the most needy Ghanaians affected by the COVID-19 economic fallout.

According to her, with the effect of the partial lockdown currently going on in some parts of the country, there is the need for a bill which will allow government not only to provide food for the vulnerable but also to provide support for local organizations that will be hit by the pandemic.

She said “Now that we have seen the effect of the lockdown in our two major cities, we need to provide emergency food to those who cannot afford to buy food. We also need to provide emergency compensation to the unemployed or those laid off from the service industry and related sectors. Small and Medium Enterprises cannot be left out either”.

She added “Options such as cash payments, freezing rents, mortgages, loan repayments, utilities, and meeting urgent medical expenses, must all be considered. Our markets can also be re-organised together with our agriculture supply chain to suit this particular situation. Some of those laid off could even be absorbed into the food and distribution chain. And we need a National Food Bank now more than ever”.

To her, if the government is able to institute these, it will make things in the country run smoothly and also help in the early arrest of the disease.

Source:MyNewsGh.com/Ayeh Offei-Akoto/2020