Forty-one Ghanaians who were in Washington DC, USA, have arrived in Ghana.
Most of them were students who went on an exchange program sponsored by the State Department of the United States of America.
They arrived aboard a South African Airways flight at 9.20 am on Saturday, June 6, at the Kotoko International Airport.
This comes a day after the government announced that it has arranged chartered flights to bring back Ghanaians home based on a schedule drawn up by the Foreign Affairs Ministry even though most countries have closed borders due to COVID-19.
The evacuees are lodging at a hotel in Accra and they are to observe the two-weeks mandatory quarantine period.
Two more contingents from Burkina Faso and Turks and Caicos are expected to arrive later in the day.
Background
The arrival of these individuals comes as the first contingent from the second phase of the government’s evacuation programme for stranded Ghanaians due to COVID-19 as was announced yesterday [Friday] by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway.
Responding to questions in Parliament, the Minister indicated that a lot of considerations have gone into government’s evacuation programme.
The countries captured in the schedule include Nigeria, Mauritania, Ethiopia, China, United States Of America, United Kingdom, UAE, among others.
Madam Ayorkor Botchway also said negotiations are currently underway between Ghana’s Beijing Mission and Ethiopian Airlines for the evacuation of some 675 stranded Ghanaians in China.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry is also in discussion with the Scholarship Secretariat and the National COVID-19 Task Force to finalise arrangements to evacuate 151 Ghanaians students who completed their language proficiency courses in Benin last month using STC buses.
Show empathy to returnees – Ablakwa
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says the government should help bear the cost of quarantine for the stranded Ghanaians abroad yet to be brought back home.
According to him, these are people who have nothing in the countries they currently are, and would not be able to pay for the hotel services during the two-weeks mandatory quarantine they are to observe when they arrive.
He has also suggested that the government can seek to use school hostel facilities as quarantine centres so the cost of paying the hotels can be scrapped out.
Source: Daily Graphic
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Please you talk as if you can just wake up and hire a plane to assemble your people in other countries in this pandemic. The government must budget and find a place to quarantine them and also feed them. Please you need a lot of planning and money
The government must sit up and up their game!!! Mr president it's not just students who went for an exchange program that are locked up in other countries.there are bunch of Ghanaians working hard in these various countries and taking care of families and loved ones in Ghana,who are either locked up in Ghana and are loosing their work and residence ( some cannot pay their rent because they're unable to return) or those Ghanaian blooded people who lived in various overseas countries but has relocated to Ghana like Gabby who don't have Ghanaian passport but have residents permit or comes in with visas,who are having their family and business in Ghana .All these groups of people are yearning to travel back to their places and at least pick up the pieces and try to regroup and continue with their lives but still can't do that. Mr president the longer you wait on reopening the borders the more destruction you're inadvertently bringing people's life into ,and they won't remember why you took the decision but who took the decision that ruined their many years of hard labor. So in as much as you make arrangements for those who may not be able to travel even if the borders were opened , open the borders so those who can travel by themselves will be able to do so. Travel has gone down drastically so you won't be seeing those huge numbers that were coming in every day before the outbreak , and you don't need to quarantine anyone who don't show symptoms.this thing is not going away in six months so don't continue anything that's not sustainable and rather focus on the wearing of masks and social distancing. The apprehension must stop and allow life to begin to go back to normal again. And Mr. President what did you mean with one hour for church service???? I thought you said one size fit all approach won't suffice , which church in Ghana can keep time??? And even if they could why is that important in this matter.the number maybe but even that go to places like Christ Temple of ICGC and see even with social distancing how many people the one overflow can hold.Mr president don't too interested in making rules and restrictions all be it in the name of easing restrictions. Mr president open the borders please!!!!