Residents of Elubo on Thursday, September 2, 2021, submitted a petition to President Akufo-Addo through the Chief Executive Officer of the Jomoro Municipality, Ernest Kwofie, after a demonstration to demand the immediate reopening of the land border in the area.
The residents have complained that the continuous closure of the land borders is negatively affecting their livelihoods.
The Member of Parliament for Jomoro, who joined the demonstration, told Citi News the hardship that has resulted from the land border closure has claimed more lives in the area than COVID-19.
Below is the petition as presented to the President;
PETITION TO HIS EXCELLENCY, THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA, NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, TO CAUSE TO REOPEN GHANA’S LAND BORDERS NOW.
Your Excellency, our petition is as follows:
1. That, the prolonged closure of our land borders has caused businesses to collapse because all businesses in our border towns are rooted in these closed borders.
2. That businessmen and businesswomen in Elubo are not able to repay their loans due to drastically reduced patronage of goods and services coupled with expired goods. Most of them have left the border communities in order to evade arrest in respect of loan repayment. This is almost rendering the same townships dormitory communities.
3. That, most affected parents are not able to cater for their wards’ education owing to the prolonged border closure in Elubo. Some tertiary students whose parents are now unable to cater for their tertiary education are now school dropouts. This has dangerous ramifications on a developing society like ours.
4. That, the closure of our land borders especially that of Elubo, is instead detrimental to the very human health we are trying to protect. Your excellency, people troop in and out of Ghana via Elubo through unapproved routes without getting tested for COVID-19. This unequivocally defeats the purpose for which the borders were closed initially.
5. That, crime is on the increase in our border areas. The youth whose day-to-day economic activities depended on the border now look to crime and other social vices as alternatives to making ends meet.
6. That, Ghanaian Cocoa Farmers whose farms are on Ivorian soil is no longer able to work on their farms thereby causing a huge financial loss to both farmers and government.
7. That, all economic activities in our border communities have completely grounded to a halt, and life in the same communities is completely dead.
DEMANDS
Your Excellency, we humbly make the following demands/seek the following reliefs;
• That, an antigen testing regime be instituted at our land borders just as instituted at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) to allow for free movement of persons. Your Excellency, statistics show that the traffic flow at the KIA far outweighs that of our land borders.
• That, our land borders be reopened to free movement of persons just as our neighbouring countries, Togo, Cote D’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso have done with respect to the decision made at the 58th Meeting of the ECOWAS Heads of States on the 23rd of January, 2021 which was chaired by Your Excellency.
We pray Your Excellency to kindheartedly consider our petition and help return life to our border communities by reopening our land borders.
Long live Your Excellency
Long live Jomoro
Long live Mother Ghana
Thank You.
Conveners:
Nana Frendoh Bosso Kwasi
Assembly Member Elubo West Electoral Area
……………………………
0240915342.
Mr. Osei Kodjo
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0244859236
Mr. Habib Issah
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0249495565
Mrs. Blankson
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0545901302
Mr. Kofi Agyemang
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0557428508
Dated, this day, the 2nd of September, 2021.
Cc:
- The Municipal Chief Executive Jomoro Municipal Assembly, Half Assini
- The Sector Commander, GIS , Jomoro Municipality, Elubo
- The Sector Commander, Ghana Revenue Authority, Jomoro Municipality, Elubo
- The Divisional Commander B N I / N I B, Elubo
- The Municipal Divisional Commander, Ghana Police Service, Half Assini
- The Member of Parliament, Jomoro Constituency, Bonyere
- Military Intelligent, Jomoro Municipality, Elubo
- The Divisional Chief, Elubo
