The Ghanaian Times says the unplanned, haphazard development in Ghanaian communities does not augur well for the nation. It believes the unplanned development in most assemblies has led to the upspring of slums in marshy areas and houses built on waterways. The paper supports President Akufo-Addo’s admonition to the newly constituted Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, MMDAS, to take spatial planning seriously so as to end haphazard development in their areas. The President says a planned settlement would ensure effective and efficient collection of property rates to improve internally generated funds of assemblies. It expresses disappointment at the fact that the President has to remind the assemblies of their mandate and their responsibilities to the people. The Ghanaian Times, therefore urges all Ghanaians to view the President’s directive as a wake-up call to join in the fight against unplanned development.
The Daily Graphic comments on the outbreak of the coronavirus in China, which has claimed more than one thousand lives since its outbreak in December. Coronavirus is said to have begun in animals before being transferred to humans and no specific treatment or vaccine has been found. The symptoms of the virus include common cold, pneumonia and severe acute respiratory syndrome and the infected patient presents with, cough and difficulty in breathing. The Graphic urges Ghana to be on high alert to promptly isolate any suspicious cases detected and to put in place infection control measures to reduce the risk of transmission. The paper wants the country to tackle the coronavirus outbreak as it was able to ward off the SARS epidemic that affected 26 countries and resulted in more than eight thousand cases in 2003.
