The Member of Parliament for Jomoro Constituency, Dorcas Afo-Toffey, has become the second Member of Parliament to lead a demonstration to demand the opening of Ghana’s land borders as poverty continue to bite hard at those who depend on them for economic gains.
On Thursday, 2 September 2021, the MP joined the “Open Our Border” demonstration at Elubo in the Western Region to call on President Nana Akufo-Addo to open the Elubo border since the restriction of movement at the border is “killing more people than the COVID-19 pandemic”.
The MP alluded that due to the closure of the borders, those who depend on it for economic survival, have no significant business to turn to thus causing some to die out of poverty.
“More people have died in the area due to hardships as a result of the border closure than the COVID-19 pandemic. We are pleading with the government, President Nana Akufo-Addo to intervene”.
She argued that if the reasons given by President for which the closure of the borders were effected are anything to go by, then lives that are being lost as a result of inability of the people in the area to fend for themselves, then it will be prudent for the President to reconsider his directive.
“After all, we were told that the motive behind the land border closure was to prevent the spread of the virus from other countries but the deaths we have recorded from hardship exceeds what COVID-19 would have caused”.
Contained in a petition presented to the acting Municipal Chief Executive of Jomoro Municipal Assembly Ernest Kwofie, the conveners stressed the need for the Elubo border to be opened to save lives.
“Our land borders be reopened to free movement of persons just as our neighbouring countries Togo, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso have done with regard to the decision made at the 58th Meeting of the ECOWAS Heads of States on the 23rd of January 2021 which was chaired by President Akufo-Addo”
Similar Demo
On August 28, 2021 MP for Ketu South Abla Dzifa Gomashie led residents of Ketu South in the Volta Region in a similar demonstration to demand the immediate reopening of the Ghana-Togo border.
According to them, the border closure has brought untold hardships to their families, hence the need to reopen the borders.
The border has been closed since March 2020 due to the outbreak of coronavirus.
