The Accra Regional Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Afia Tenge has reiterated that individuals including managers of restaurant and bars would be dealt with according to the law if they are found disobeying the president’s lockdown directives.
She said strict measures have to put in place in various beaches across the region to deal with individuals who are bent on flouting the coronavirus lockdown as marine police, soldiers and policemen have been deployed to these places.
She added that the prohibition of persons from all beaches in the country is in accordance with the Imposition of Restrictions Act 2020 (ACT 1012).
During her visit to Labadi beach, she said "…It is very clear that people are adhering to the directives here at the beaches, because we don’t want to a situation where people will gather and make merry and today is Easter Monday and very symbolic of the season that people as ritual would come out in their numbers and jubilate in their numbers but because of the era in which we are, we expect that people stay in their home as much as possible and they do not flout the regulations that the police are enforcing.”
“We entreat them to continue to stay at home. Anybody who would show any kind of disobedience and who wound want to violate any of these regulations make for face the law. This time around we will not limit our rest only to the holiday makers but also we would extend it to the management that people who open their bars and create the atmosphere that nothing is happening that people should come that is at the beaches like this and anybody should also open that in a way speaks volumes and gets people attracted to the place our arrest will also be extended to them. “She added
Her visit to the beach comes after Ghanaweb.com reported how residents of Chorkor a suburb of Accra ignored the President’s lockdown directives, to have fun at the beach on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020.
Hundreds of people who reside at the popular coastal area were out in their numbers in the afternoon to cool it off by swimming in the sea, unperturbed by the growing cases of Coronavirus in Ghana.
While the elderly fisher folks were busy mending their nets, a number of people; children and the youth mostly, were busy making merry and celebrating to mark the Easter festivities. Few hours after the report military personnel were there to disperse there revellers.
The Ghana police issued a press release to inform Ghanaians that gathering at any beach in Ghana amounts to an offence.
Speaking on this development, Efia Tenge revealed that some arrests have been made but she is yet to get the total number of people arrested from the Chorkor Beach.
“Yesterday some arrests were made (at the beach) but I don’t have the number and even the extension of the one week there were quite a number of arrests that have been made of which nine of them I know of were sent to court last week and all the nine have been remanded and they are to reappear before the court on the 14th of April. We are trying to add all them together and each one of them have made their individual arrest so we are trying to compile everything so that we would know the total of arrest that were made in this period.
