The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo on 31st January 2021 addressed the nation on measures to curtail the spread of the covid-19 pandemic.
In his 23rd update on the pandemic and the measures adopted to curb the spread of the virus, the President of the Republic banned some of the social gatherings including weddings, funerals, conferences, night clubs, etc. as part of ensuring covid-19 safety protocols in the country.
“Restaurants should provide take away services, and should, as much as possible, avoid seated services”, he said.
Against this safety protocol measure on restaurants, Agric Today paid a visit to some of the restaurant operators at Accra to ascertain their response to the President’s directive.
The restaurant operators expressed their dissatisfaction with the safety protocols measures by the President. According to them, last year, the lockdown collapsed their business and all their workers were sacked. “Covid-19 has really affected my business, last year, I had to lay off all my workers and thinking I could revamp my business this year, here is another restriction”, an operator decried.
“We are very much aware and conforming to the Covid-19 protocols. Mr. President should have advised us to observe the social distancing, hand washing, and other protocols strictly as said to both the churches and Ghana Football Association rather than banning people from coming to sit here to eat”, another operator at East Legon added.
The operators mentioned that people do not patronize their business as they used to do because they are scared of the pandemic and now that the President has issued a banned on social gathering including their service, then they are left with nothing than to close their business.
They urged the government to do something about the restriction to at least allow them to operate as others have been given the opportunity.