Akwasi Agyemang
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA), Mr. Akwasi Agyemang, has declared that the government will prosecute beach operators in the country who flout the ban on social gathering.
The CEO gave the caution when he addressed the media after embarking on an enforcement exercise to some beaches in Accra to caution operators to adhere to the President’s directives especially on social distance.
President Akufo-Addo recently announced a ban on public gatherings in Ghana as a means of preventing the spread of Coronavirus.
The public gatherings include conferences, workshops, funerals, festivals, political rallies and religious events among others.
Akwasi Agyemang and his team visited beaches like the La Pleasure Beach, the Laboma Beach Resort, Shining Beach, Sango Beach Resort and Shushu Beach Resort.
Others were the Nordsee Beach Resort located in Korle Gono, Serenity Beach Resort and the Place Beach Resort in Sakumono.
The team placed notices on all entrances of the beaches with the inscription, “Beach closed to Curb Spread of COVID-19, by GTA.”
According to the GTA boss, they alerted operators of the beaches that Parliament had passed the law against public gathering and that any individual or entity found flouting the law would be prosecuted without fear or favour.
He however added that he would pay frequent visits to these beaches at the weekend to monitor the progress of the orders and make arrest of people who failed to adhere to the directives on social gathering.
The GTA on Monday, March 23, announced the immediate closure of all beaches to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the country.
GTA explained that the action had become necessary following the government’s directive to suspend all public gatherings.
The authority announced that with the support of National Security and the Police Service, it would begin patrol of the beaches in order to ensure compliance with the closure order.
By George Clifford Owusu