A former MP for Madina, Amadu Sorogo, has said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo wants to lift the ban on social gatherings because he wants his party to be able to go for its primaries to elect parliamentary candidates.

He also said the president intends to make it easier for the Electoral Commission (EC) to compile a new register for this year’s elections.

Mr Sorogo said on Accra100.5FM’s Ghana Yensom on Tuesday, 26 May 2020 that if the ban on social gathering is still in place, these activities by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the EC will not be possible.

President Nana Akufo-Addo announced during the Eid celebration that stakeholder consultations are taking place on the way forward toward the easing of COVID-19 restrictions so that the social and economic lives of Ghanaians “can go back to normal”.

“I expect these consultations to conclude this week”, he said at a virtual national Eid celebration on Sunday, 24 May 2020, adding: “So that I can announce to Ghanaians a clear roadmap for easing the restrictions”.

“We have to find a way back, but in safety, for we cannot be under these restrictions forever”, the President said.

Ghana has recorded 6,964 COVD-19 cases, so far.

This was announced by the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye at a press conference on Tuesday, 26 May 2020.

Meanwhile, 2,097 of the infected persons have recovered.

Recovery means the patients have tested negative after two tests.

The number of deaths remains 32.

Mr Sorogo said: “Even at the time Muslims can’t go to the mosque to worship, even when Christians can’t go to churches to worship, the figures are increasing, so, what is going to be the rationale to lift the ban on social gatherings?

“All of us are singing that the figures are increasing. There is no way we should lift the ban in the sense that the figures are increasing. They only want to go for primaries to elect their flag bearer and parliamentary candidates. The president also wants the new register for the elections but he knows that with the ban on gatherings, it cannot be done.”

Responding to this claim, the Eastern Regional Vice Chairman of the NPP, Alhaji Omar Bodinga, said the president will take a decision that is in the interest of Ghanaians and not his personal interest.

“In the whole world, Ghana is one of the countries whose measures to deal with the COVID-19 have been commended. We went after the virus, we didn’t wait for the virus,” he said.

He added: “The president listens to experts and I'm sure the decision he will take will be in the interest of Ghana and not his.”