Minority Chase Health Minister Over Covid-19

The Minority in Parliament has called for an immediate appearance of the Health Minister to address the House on the true state of the resurgence of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Ghana.

The call became necessary after multiple cases of the dreaded COVID-19 were confirmed among students of the University of Ghana in Accra, prompting the school’s authorities to issue a red-alert health notice on heightened precaution and preventive measures

Rising to speak passionately on the floor of Parliament on Friday, June 27^th, 2025, Minority Chief Whip Frank Annoh-Dompreh said,

“We have read an official report from the University of Ghana of a limited incident of COVID-19, the University of Ghana has had cause to put up an official release. We don’t want to tread towards what the country went through some time back.

“Let’s make hay while the sun shines, and I place his call right in front of the respected leader of the house. We should make an arrangement and get the sector Minister, Minister Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, to come and do the needful.”

Joining him, MP for Nalerigu/Gambaga, Nurudeen Muhammed Mumuni, said the situation was growing out of control and demanded transparency.

“Mr. speaker, if you look at this issue, it is a very, very important issue that we need to get the Health Minister to respond and update the country as to whether COVID is back or not.  I went for a programme in the evening and when I got there, everybody was wearing nose masks.  This issue is bringing fear and panic to the country,” Nurudeen Muhammed Mumuni noted.

The Majority Leader, Mahama Ayariga however told the House that the call may not be necessary at this time.

Ayariga explained his reasons: “The World Health Organization no longer treats COVID 19 as a health emergency. It does not mean that COVID 19 has ended. Once in a while, there would be sporadic recurrences and infections in some places but it is not a threat. Indeed, the Ghana Health Service says that no one has be admitted on account of COVID 19. But they still encourage people, if they have the symptoms to report so that they can be taken care of.

Ayariga continued: “I believe the vaccination went very far and many of us have developed the capacity to resist and if infected, would be able to survive when given treatment so let’s take advantage but the GHS does not consider it to be a serious health emergency that should attract the kind of intervention that is being advocated.”

Though the exact number of affected persons at the University of Ghana has not been made public yet, the development has sparked some anxiety not only within the University environment but also among the general public.

This is understandable because the University has a student population estimated to be over 60,000 with a majority of them as non-residential students who go home after classes to mingle with family and friends.

Since the University issued an official notice at the start of this week, Ghana’s Minister for Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, is yet to issue a statement on what proactive steps government would be adopting to prevent the spread of the highly contagious virus.