The Operations Team of Railways Police Command in Accra has arrested 40 people for non-compliance with the mandatory wearing of face mask directive.
A 25-member team conducted the ‘Operation Wear Your Mask’ within the Central Business District, Kantamanto and its environs on Tuesday, June 23, 2020.
Speaking to Citi News, the Public Relations Officer of the Accra Regional Police Command, DSP Effia Tenge said, the persons have been granted bail.
President Akufo-Addo made the wearing of face masks mandatory, in the wake of a sharp rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Ghana and has through an Executive Instrument asked the police and law enforcement agencies to lead its enforcement.
People who fail to wear face masks in public risk a prison sentence of four to 10 years or a fine ranging from GHS12,000 to GHS60,000, or both.
The new sanctions for not wearing face masks are contained in a new Executive Instrument (E.I. 164).
But many have, however, questioned the terms and conditions under which the law and its corresponding sanctions will be applied without infringing on individual rights and liberties.
Aside from the perceived harshness of the law, concerns have been raised about the definition of a public place and if, for example, a person should wear a mask whilst in his or her car alone.
But the government has defended the move, insisting that the current sanctions for not wearing face masks are in order to protect the ordinary Ghananaian from contracting the virus.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah has assured the Ghana Police Service will in the coming days issue directives to its officers on the compulsory wearing of face masks as the country battles the Coronavirus pandemic.
Source:Fiilafmonline/CitiNews
