Some residents in the Bono East Regional Capital, Techiman, have been made to desilt gutters and sweep an entire road stretch over failure to put on facemasks.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in his 11th televised address to the nation on measures adopted by his government to mitigate the devastating impacts of Covid-19 on the country, announced a mandatory wearing of facemasks by the Ghanaian populace.

The president charged the police and other law enforcement agencies to ensure the directive was complied with by the citizenry.

An immigration officer, who spoke to the media, justified the ‘punishment’ handed-out to the residents who failed to comply with the President’s directive.

He said it formed part of the strict enforcement of the wearing of facemask directive.

“President Akufo-Addo has announced that the wearing of facemask is now mandatory. And so we the municipal taskforce have decided to hit the streets and make sure people follow the directive. So when you are caught not wearing a facemask, you are made to desilt a gutter or sweep the road. This is to serve as their punishment since we don’t want to beat anyone.

“ A lot of people don’t obey the already existing directives, but with what we’ve started doing I believe they will start adhering to the directives including the new one,” he noted.

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