A man, his bride, and over 25 guests out of 50 have been picked up by the Greater Accra Regional Police Command during their wedding ceremony in Darkuman.
According to the Police, the remaining guests managed to escape during the raid.
President Akufo-Addo had earlier announced a ban on public gatherings as part of efforts to control the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In a later address, he gave a stern repetition of the ban in place, assuring the public that anyone who goes contrary to the law will be “dealt with fully”.
The President has also imposed a partial lockdown on Accra and Kumasi, the hotspots for the coronavirus, and has asked everyone apart from essential service providers to stay at home.
The wedding ceremony defies both directives.
DSP Efia Tenge, the Accra Regional Police PRO, while narrating the incident to Citi News, said the arrested persons will be put before court within this week.
“We received information on an ongoing marriage ceremony around Darkuman-Nyamekye Masalachi. So the Police proceeded to this very location and truly, to our surprise, there was a marriage ceremony ongoing. It was in attendance with 50 or more people. So the Police managed to arrest a number of them while others also escaped. In fact, we had 29 suspects and all these people were cautioned and have been granted police inquiry bail for them to reappear before court this week,” she noted.
Similar incident at Obuasi
In a similar incident, Police at Obuasi, days ago, picked up 49 persons, including a groom and his bride, for flouting the ban on social gathering protocols.
The groom, Philip Ahenekwa, aged 35, and the bride, Ama Frema, aged 40, and the other persons are currently in police custody.
They were also arrested while holding the wedding ceremony by the COVID-19 taskforce at Akaporiso in the Obuasi East District of the Ashanti Region.
Ban on public gatherings
The ban on conferences, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies, church activities and other related events which qualify to be social gatherings was to be observed for four weeks.
Following the President’s order on Sunday, March 15, 2020, most of the stated institutions have complied. Churches, schools, and some business have suspended all their activities.
A few people, however, have disobeyed, leading to the arrest of a pastor for instance who on two occasions organised church services.
But in a recent development, Akufo-Addo has extended the initial one-month ban on public gatherings by an additional two weeks.
The extension, which took effect on Monday, April 13, comes into full force after he signed the Executive Instrument to give effect to the new measure.
The partial lockdown has also been extended by a week.
