Correspondence from Bono Region:

The Sunyani Municipal Assembly in the Bono Region has started meting out communal punishments to residents who fail to adhere to the compulsory wearing of face masks.

Residents who are apprehended for failing to comply with the directive are ordered to clean the streets, desilt gutters, or weed depending on their sex.

The measures the Sunyani Municipal Assembly’s COVID-19 taskforce say is to instil discipline among residents’ in Sunyani as far as COVID-19 is concerned in other to prevent community spread of the virus.

According to the leader of the taskforce, Inspector Obeng of the Ghana Immigration Service, the exercise is to ensure compliance with the directive on the wearing of face masks at all public places in the municipality.

“In order to ensure that residents abide by the order by the Presidents directing all residents to wear face masks at all times, we have decided to ensure compliance through this exercise. Basically what we do is that residents without facemasks are made to clean by sweeping, picking rubbish, cleaning the gutters and weeding”.

The task force as part of its duties will also be undertaking night enforcement exercises to ensure that drinking bars and restaurants adhere to social and physical distancing protocols to stem the spread of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Municipality.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the 11th address to the nation on measures taking to prevent COVID-19 announced that wearing face masks in public is now compulsory and directed the police to enforce the directive.