Chief Executive Officer of the Coastal Development Authority (CODA), Jerry Ahmed Shaib, is urging public transport operators not to allow passengers without face masks to board their vehicles.
He said despite the numerous education and call by government for all and sundry to wear the nose mask to help contain the spread of COVID-19, many have refused to comply.
Speaking during the distribution of face masks to members of the Odawna transport union and commuters at Circle in Accra, the CEO of CODA, Jerry Ahmed Shaib said such recalcitrant persons must be denied access to the vehicles.
“Before a passenger gets on board, as a driver or a mate, you are supposed to ensure that the passengers are wearing face masks and you the driver and the mate, the two of you are supposed to wear a mask. If there is no mask on, don’t let the passenger get on board. It has become something that can be enforced,” he said.
President Nana Akufo-Addo in his 11th televised address giving an update on the country’s COVID-19 situation announced that the wearing of face masks is now compulsory and will be enforced, warning that leaving one’s home without wearing them is an offence.
“With the doctors and scientists telling us that the virus is transmitted from human contact, through talking, singing, coughing and sneezing, which results in sending droplets of the virus from one person to another, residents of these four regions, and, indeed, all Ghanaians, must remember that the wearing of masks is now mandatory. Leaving our homes without a face mask or face covering on is an offence. The Police have been instructed to enforce this directive, which is the subject of an Executive Instrument,” the President said.
Many Ghanaians continue to move around without face masks, citing many excuses, amongst them the heat and difficulty in breathing.