The Minority in Parliament is appealing to President Akufo-Addo to extend humanitarian assistance to Indonesia.
According to the Minority, the government appears to have no intention to send assistance to Indonesia even at this crucial hour, given Ghana’s established impressive reputation for being a nation with a heart.
So far, at least 25 governments of different countries have responded, but the government of Ghana is yet to respond.
In a press release signed by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Member of Parliament for North Tongu, the Minority demanded that government wakes up, given it predecessors’ extended help to countries affected by disasters in the past.
“Having waited for a week expecting our government to show timely leadership in line with our nation’s illustrious tradition and realizing that government appears to have no intention to send assistance to Indonesia even at this crucial hour, we are compelled to nudge our government to wake up to Ghana’s moral obligation in the comity of nations.”
President Kwame Nkrumah extended financial aid of 10 million Pounds to distressed Guinea in the 1960s.
President Jerry John Rawlings sent relief items to Japan following a devastating earthquake in the 1990s.
President John Evans Atta Mills donated $3million to Haiti after a 2010 earthquake.
Former President John Mahama also offered medical support and made-in-Ghana products to the three Ebola-ravaged countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, in addition to offering Ghana to the United Nations as an international logistics centre.
The eastern Indonesian island of Sulawesi Indonesia was hit by 7.5-magnitude earthquake on Friday the 28th of September 2018, and a subsequent tsunami that hurled water as high as 20 feet over the city of Palu.
The disaster has so far claimed over 1,400 lives according to confirmed official reports.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo in the immediate aftermath requested the international community to come to his country’s aid with help not limited to financial support, food, water, clothing and rescue expertise.
Ghana and Indonesia share strong diplomatic relations and a deep bond of bilateral cooperation which led to Indonesia granting visa-free status to Ghanaians since 2016.
The Minority believes Ghana doesn’t have to compete with the example of the £3million, £2.6million or £2.4million donated by the UK, Australia and New Zealand respectively, but reach out to Indonesia with whatever government can offer.
“We must emphasize that we have noted recent admissions from both President Akufo-Addo and Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta about the worrying state of Ghana’s economy and it’s negative impact on Ghanaians, therefore, the Minority is not insisting on a grand gesture or seeking to coerce Government to equal the example of the £3million, £2.6million or £2.4million donated by the UK, Australia and New Zealand respectively”
“In the same vein, our demand is not to force the Government to necessarily compete with the donation of 1million dollars each by the CEOs of Google and Apple.”
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By: Farida Yusif/citinewsroom.com/Ghana
The post Minority appeals to gov’t to mobilize support for Indonesia appeared first on Citi Newsroom.
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