President of the Institute for Security, Disaster and Emergency Studies, Dr Ishmael Norman, has blamed incidents of confrontation between civilians and some security personnel on the partial nature of the lockdown.
This follows reports of pockets of alleged brutality suffered by some persons at the hands of some security personnel deployed to enforce the lockdown in areas affected by the announced restrictions.
The groups exempted from this restriction include healthcare service providers, security personnel, food vendors, media, some telecommunication sector workers among others, catergorised into essential service providers.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Upfront on April 2, 2020, the security analyst acknowledged that Ghana’s security forces are well trained for any mission.
He was, however, quick to add that the “curious and superstitious” nature of Ghanaians was never going to be favourable for the current strategy.
“We are very superstitious, curious… so they gave a partial order they basically found a way to come to town because you say they can go and shop so they will go. You say they should go to the hospital so they will go. You say some businesses should operate so they will open,” he said.
He was emphatic that a total lockdown is a way to go if the government is bent on strict enforcement of the restriction of movement in the country’s Covid-19 epicentres.
“It should have been a total lockdown in Accra and Kumasi. Nobody goes out, nobody comes in,” he added.
Dr Ishmael Norman believes this move will minimise the level of confrontations recorded over the past week since the implementation of the lockdown as announced by President Akufo-Addo.