The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has given pointers that the government may announce restrictions in some parts of the country as part of additional measures to stop the spread of the deadly Coronavirus.
Reacting to this information on GhanaWeb’s Trending GH, some daily earners at the Mallam-Atta market in Accra raised concerns on how a possible lockdown can affect their livelihood.
According to one taxi-driver, a lockdown will negatively affect majority of Ghanaians as they go out every day to work before they can earn enough to feed themselves and their families.
“Ghana is not ready for a lockdown because it is difficult for Ghanaians to feed themselves without going out to work,” he said.
He also added that he is not confident in the government’s ability to support these workers financially if they follow the President’s orders in the case of a lockdown.
“Government doesn’t distribute food items and money to citizens in this country. If there is a lockdown, there will be so much hardship because traders won’t be able to feed themselves,” he concluded.
A 38-year-old mango seller suggested that the government should provide financial aid to people like herself who have not saved enough for such emergencies.
“The government should give us, the poor citizens money to buy food items ahead of the lockdown. Some individuals already have the financial capacity to purchase lots of food items, but others don’t. Nana can give each of us GH¢500 to manage,” she said.
To another driver, the lockdown during this period could affect people’s health.
“If they say everyone should go to their homes, how will we eat? Some of us are driving other people’s cars for survival, and we have not saved money to sustain us. It will bring lots of hardships, and people can collapse just by thinking about it,” he said.
Another person who earns her living daily was hopeful that the lockdown, if it should happen won’t go beyond a month.
“It is our prayer that the disease leaves the system so if we are locked down for about a month, we can all mange it,” she stated.
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