Akufo-Addo had to take tough COVID-19 lockdown decisions – Kow Essuman

Former legal counsel to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Kow Essuman, has defended the former government’s COVID-19 lockdown measures, describing them as a difficult but necessary decision that required leadership.

Speaking in an interview with JoyNews’ Gemma Appiah, Mr Essuman acknowledged the hardship the restrictions imposed on ordinary Ghanaians, particularly people in rural communities who depended on informal social and economic activities for their daily needs.

He said the restrictions affected access to food, social interaction and basic conveniences for people who lacked facilities such as refrigerators and private bathrooms.

“Someone sitting somewhere in a rural area, the only source of entertainment is to go and sit at a pit or bar or at a chop bar or something like that. Locking them down prevents them from having access to food. They don't have refrigerators. Some use communal bathrooms and so on and so forth,” he said.

He added that restricting movement in such circumstances made the decision particularly difficult.

“How do you then do that and prevent people from being able to walk or go to the nearest place to have convenience? So, it was a very tough decision, but he had to take it because in those circumstances, it required leadership,” he stated.

Mr Essuman argued that the former President demonstrated leadership by taking decisions he considered necessary despite their impact on the population.

He linked the former President’s approach to other difficult decisions taken during his second term, arguing that they had contributed to Ghana’s current economic position.

“And that was kind of like the situation we found ourselves in in the second term. And he demonstrated that leadership, took the tough decisions, and today the tough decisions have gotten us where we are in terms of, for instance, the economy,” he said.

The former presidential legal counsel said Mr Akufo-Addo had acknowledged the painful nature of the restrictions and their effects on the public.

He compared the measures to medicine, arguing that difficult interventions may be necessary to achieve recovery.

“He said it himself before that it was a painful period of his administration because the decision that you're taking would have an effect on the people. But it's like medicine. If you don't swallow it, you can't get better,” he stated.