A total of 171 head porters made up 51 children and 120 nursing mothers arrested by Nkawkaw Police in the Eastern Region for escaping from partial lockdown Greater Accra Region, have been escorted and handed over to Ashanti Regional Police Command.
The head porters known locally as Kayayes were arrested in two Daf trucks with registration numbers AS 8983-12 and GT 4250-15 by the Nkawkaw Police Patrol team on March 30, 2020, between 3:30pm and 4:00pm while returning to Accra having been bounced back Ashanti Regional Police at the checkpoint.
They were escaping lockdown imposition on Greater Accra to Tamale.
According to the Nkawkaw District Police Commander ACP Charles Kofi Adu, the decision to hand over the kayayes to Ashanti Regional Police was on advice by the Eastern Regional Security Council.
Ghana has recorded 152 confirmed cases of Coronavirus with five (5) fatalities as of March 29, 2020.
President of Ghana Akufo-Addo on Friday night of March 27, 2020, announced partial lockdown of the Nation’s Capital-Accra and Parts of Ashanti Region as an enhanced measure to prevent increasing community spread having closed down all Borders -Land, sea and Air space.
The lockdown took effect Monday, March 20, 2020.
The announcement of the partial lockdown triggered panic escape by residents to exempt regions.
As a result, Akuapem North, Akuapem South, Okere and New Juaben South Municipalities in the Eastern region have taken joint initiative to prevent the spread of Coronavirus to their municipalities.
The alliance was formed on the back of an influx of people into the Municipalities following a partial lockdown of Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi by Ghana’s President Akufo Addo effective March 30, 2020.
A joint Directive issued after a meeting attended by Municipal/District Public Health Emergency Committees together with the Municipal/District Security Councils of these four (4) Assemblies stated among other things that effective Tuesday, 31st March 2020 at 6:00am, fifteen(15) Barriers/checkpoints would be mounted in strategic entry Points and areas in the four municipalities.
Also, mandatory temperature check will be conducted by health workers attached to the security team at the checkpoint.
The directive binds on Taxi drivers to pick only three passengers -one (1) person at the Front Seat and two (2) persons at the back seat. Trotros will carry one (1) person in front and two (2) persons at the back for urvan buses and three (3) persons at the back for sprinters, in line with social distancing protocols.
Hotels and Guesthouses in the four municipalities are expected to provide details on visitors received from March 29, 2020. In the meantime, pubs and drinking spots in the four municipalities have been ordered to shut down indefinitely.
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Obed Ansah
