Joint police/military force to help MMDAs enforce social distancing directive

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Ishmael Ashitey has announced that market days in the capital will be temporarily closed to support the fight against the coronavirus.

According to him, it is next to impossible for the social distancing policy to be practiced during these market days as most people crowd markets.

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He made this declaration in an interview on Happy98.9FM’s ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ with host, Afrifa-Mensah where he said, “All markets will be closed during market days because of congestion during that period. To help enforce the social distancing policy we are banning market days temporarily for our own safety”, he reiterated.

The Regional Minister however noted that the regular markets are still in session with some slight changes made to them. He explained that satellite markets have been set up to also help with the enforcement of the social distancing policy and ease market congestion.

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Explaining the satellite market initiative, he stated that the larger markets have been decongested with “fruits & vegetables and grain traders in Tema resituated at parks around the main market all with proper spacing” and noted that all the other district assemblies in the region were expected to replicate the initiative.

He noted that the satellite market initiative was reached from a consensus with the market women.

When asked by host, Afrifa-Mensah what his outfit is doing about the night market situation which recorded high levels of congestion in the region, he revealed that “the Ghana Police and the Military have agreed to assist the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to manage the situation.”

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The Greater Accra Regional Security Council (REGSEC) has made the wearing of face masks compulsory, without which one can neither access public spaces, institutions nor transact business in the region. These and other
measures have been put in place to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in the region.