The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) taskforce deployed to enforce nose mask wearing in market places in the capital, Accra are calling for military intervention to ensure people comply with the rule.
The AMA taskforce team lamented that their members were being intimidated by some heavily built men who have made their job difficult.
“For me I think that when the military people come here, everyone will wear the mask. We are begging the regional minister to deploy just two military men here to help us. We cannot achieve our target alone; the macho men are rather bullying us when we insist they wear the nose mask”.
According to Mr. Benjamin Hammond, the leader of the taskforce team ensuring nose mask wearing in the Tudu market, majority of people entering the market were without nose mask while others choose to keep theirs in their pockets.
“When I count ten (10) people coming to the market over here, only three (3) are in their nose mask the rest don’t have it. We have to force people to buy one here before they enter the market, it is a worry for some of us because when the president closes the market now, we will all go hungry and start crying for help”.
The Republic Press can report that the AMA taskforce team is doing their best to ensure people wore the mask before they are allowed into the market; however they faced difficulties as they are resisted by some recalcitrant persons.
Some of the head porters popularly referred to us ‘kayayei’ who were not in their nose mask said they could not afford, hence some of their clients had to buy for them before engaging them. In this case, those who refused to buy the nose mask had to stand in the sun for several hours with leaps of load on their heads.
Others too have decided to use alternative routes to access the market just to skip wearing the nose mask.
Meanwhile traders in nose mask are cashing in on the situation as people who were forced to wear the mask bought from them.
The Republic Press has observed that in spite of the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr. Henry Quartey’s directive to security councils in various Assemblies embark on routine checks at public places such as schools, lorry stations, markets and especially the trotro stations to ensure strict compliance of the covid-19 protocols, people continue to flout the directives indiscriminately.
Although Mr. Quartey further indicated that MMDA’s ensure that anyone flouting the directive be arrested, fined or prosecuted according to the law to serve as deterrent to others, no arrest has been made yet.
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