The Awutu Senya East Municipal Assembly in the Central Region says it will effective Monday, April 27, 2020, begin the enforcement of the wearing of face masks in the municipality. The move, it said was part of government’s efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The assembly, according to the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Michael Yaw Essuman Mensah, would use the weekend to educate people in the area on the need to wear the face mask.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the MCE, therefore, urged persons living and working in the municipality to use the weekend to procure their masks since it would use legal means to enforce the directive.
Kasoa, the capital of the municipality was part of the areas that were affected by the partial lockdown which lasted three weeks. The and restriction lifted by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last Monday.
No mask, no entry
The Awutu Senya East Municipality joins the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions to begin implementing the directive for people to wear nose masks in public as the government steps up effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.
They have made it mandatory for all persons who commute within the regions to wear nose masks.
Their decision meant that persons who did not wear nose masks will be denied entry into markets, offices, lorry parks and other public spaces.
President’s charge
The decision to enforce the directive to wear the mask is to ensure the compliance of President Akufo-Addo’s directive in his seventh address to the nation to give an update on the COVID-19 situation in the country.
In his address to the country last Sunday, President Nana Akufo-Addo encouraged everyone to wear a face mask.
“Like the World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently advised, I want to encourage you to wear a mask wherever you go, as it will help you not to contract the virus, and keep it clean. If you own a business or are providing a service, i.e. a barber, a hairdresser, a tailor, a taxi driver, a trotro driver and his ‘mate’, a shop keeper, a food seller, please do well to use a mask,” the President said.
Legal means
Mr Mensah told the Daily Graphic that everyone in the municipality would be required to put on a face mask to prevent the spread of COVID-19
He indicated that the assembly, at its Executive Committee and Security Council meetings held last Tuesday and Wednesday, discussed a number of issues relating to COVID-19 and firmly agreed that the assembly would employ all legal means at its disposal to ensure the strict compliance of the directive.
“In its bid to contain the spread of the virus, the following directives are hereby issued for strict compliance: All market actors are directed to appropriately wear face masks in transacting trading activities within the municipality. All commercial drivers operating within the municipality are directed to wear face masks and caution respective passengers to do same,” a statement issued after the assembly’s meeting and signed by the MCE, said.
It further said all public officials were directed to always wear a face mask in the discharge of their duties either to or from their points of duty, adding that all “actors at public places (officials and visitors alike) were also directed to wear face mask”.
“All security officers (public and private alike) are all directed to wear face mask. Every member of the public who seeks to transact any activity on the premises of any security agency must wear face mask,” it said.
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