The Coastal Development Authority (CODA) has urged registrants within the Ledzokuku constituency to adhere to COVID-19 safety protocols as they apply for the new voters’ ID card.
This comes after the authority and the Member of Parliament for the Ledzokuku constituency, Bernard Okoe Boye distributed nose masks, sanitizers and soft drinks to applicants at some registration centres within the Teshie community.
In an interview with Citi News, CEO of CODA, Jerry Ahmed Shaib said adherence to the safety protocols in the registration exercise will forestall the spread of COVID-19 in the area.
“What we are doing is to give sanitizers and masks to the people who are in the respective queues to register. The basis is also to provide education on the protocols because people are still taking this as a joke and people are losing their lives through the virus. And that is why we have woken up at dawn to start this project so that we can save our people by letting them understand that the virus is there and that it is real so we should stop the spread by observing the protocols including washing our hands under running water with soap, observing the social distancing protocols, wearing of face masks and to avoid hugging and spitting all over the place.”
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission (EC) has begun investigating the breaching of COVID-19 protocols by its officials at some voters’ registration centres.
This follows the circulation of a video showing how some registration officials at some centres were failing to clean the fingerprint scanners before and after their use.
The EC said it will not hesitate to sanction officials involved in the act.
“The Electoral Commission’s (EC’s) attention has been drawn to a post circulating on social media about the failure of some registration officials at certain centres to clean fingerprint scanners before and after their use.
“The EC will not hesitate to take the necessary action against any official found to be negligent in the observance of the COVID-19 protocols. Additionally, the EC has alerted its monitoring teams to put that agenda on their radar as well as re-echo the precautionary measures to its temporary staff,” the EC said in a statement.