Abdul Malik Kweku Baako says the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cannot be blamed for the thousands of attendees that thronged the late Sir John's funeral.
The Minority in Parliament has demanded an apology from the President for joining the large gathering of mourners to flout Covid-19 protocols at the funeral of late former NPP General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie, affectionately called Sir John.
Sir John's funeral was held last week in his hometown, Sakora-Wonoo in the Ashanti Region.
Following the funeral was a viral video on social media showing thousands of people including the President and his Ministers gathered in complete disregard for the social distancing protocol and little to no use of nose masks by the attendees.
According to a publication by Joy FM, Minority Chief Whip, Muntaka Mubarak strongly opines that President Akufo-Addo and his government functionaries breached the Imposition of Restrictions Act, 2020 (Act 1012).
He noted that this action shows that the President is not determined to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The President owes us an apology that as a Commander in Chief he was there when this thing happened, I mean nothing could be said rather than for him to apologise to the rest of the country'', he asserted.
Touching on the issue on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, Kweku Baako explained that Sir John's funeral rites were not sponsored by the government or State neither was it organized by the President, hence he finds it difficult accepting that the blame be on the President.
He expounded that although the President, attending the funeral, definitely saw the mammoth crowd, he couldn't have effected the arrest of the COVID-19 protocol offenders neither could the Police or security personnel at the event have arrested the large numbers.
To him, the incident at Sir John's funeral was just unavoidable.
"If you look at the number of attendees alone it was difficult to say that it could have been avoided. It couldn't have been avoided in my candid opinion. When you take the people who know character and love him, his personality, all those things; so I wasn't surprised at the numbers . . . Unless it was a government-sponsored or a State-sponsored. Again, from the little I know, it wasn't government-sponsored or State-sponsored. Government might have given some contribution, that's distinct from being the sponsor," he said.
