The COVID-19 Task Force in the Effia-Kwesimintsim Municipal Assembly (EKMA) in the Western Region has arrested about 106 residents who failed to comply with the COVID-19 safety protocols, especially with regards to the wearing of nose masks in the Municipality.
Among the number of arrested residents, six (6) people were sent to the Kwesimintsim and the Takoradi Central Police Stations to be prosecuted while 106 were made to desilt gutters after which they were made to go and do the right thing.
The areas where most of the people were seen to be flouting the protocols leading to their arrest are Kwesimintsim, Apremdo, Effiakuma No. 9, Effiakuma New-Site, Assakae and TTU Main Campus area.
Mr Henry Kwofie, Municipal Coordinator for the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) who doubles as the Chairman of the COVID-19 Task Force for EKMA told Spice News that in order to be efficient in the fight against the spread of the disease they instituted three teams.
The three teams he mentioned as Education Team led by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to embark on sensitization, the Ghana Health Service Team (GHS) to provide health support and the Task Force to implement and enforce compliance of protocols.
He announced that the Team and the Assembly has met with driver unions, market women and all traders to brief them about the state of the disease in the Municipality and the measures taken to address the spread of the disease.
Mr Kwofie further announced that the Assembly has so far distributed a number of nose masks, alcohol-based hand sanitizers and Veronica buckets to the market women and driver unions as a means to stem the spread of the disease.
However, he bewailed that some recalcitrant market women have decided to flout the safety protocols by not wearing their nose masks and urged them to desist from such behaviours to save lives.
He also noted that most of the mobile money vendors in the Municipality do not have sanitizers and Veronica buckets around them and urged them to make some available so that they can apply after handling money.
He recounted a situation where the Task Force had to stop a funeral because they were flouting the directives as given by the President while some bars and pubs have been cautioned to operate within the given protocols.
Mr Kwofie therefore encouraged all the bar operators to follow and make sure their customers adhere to the physical distancing rules and often disinfect tables, chairs and door handles after usage by customers.
He opined that by dint of hard work and commitment to the fight against the pandemic, the number of cases have reduced in the Municipality and urged drivers in particular to make sure that their conductors and passengers wear their nose masks before boarding the vehicle.
Story: Seth Ameyaw Danquah
