The distribution in session
The Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) in the Western Region has procured and distributed about 76,000 reusable face masks and 36,000 bottles of hand sanitisers to market women and other traders in some market centres as well as children in about 65 basic schools in the metropolis.
The initiative was part of efforts to help combat the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the area.
The assembly also distributed school uniforms to some school children.
The Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Abdul MuminIssah, made this known to the media after he led some other staff of the assembly to distribute the items.
He said the assembly embarked onthe mass distribution of face masks because theyrealised that wearing of the nose masks in the area had declined.
He thanked the government for providing the assembly with the items for onward distribution to the residents to help protect them from the virus.
“STMA was privileged to receive a total number of 76,000 face masks and 36,000 bottles of handsanitisers which had been shared to 65 schools and traders in various market places within the metropolis. We have also given some of the items to the assembly members to give to the people in their respective communities,”he said.
He told the residents that there was no need for the task force to use force to get people to comply with the protocols and urged them to be law abiding, adding, “It is our individual responsibility to ensure that our health is intact by adhering strictly to the safety protocols. So it is an individual affair.”
Nana AsempaneyeYeboah, the Takoradi sub-Metropolitan Director, was also grateful to the government for the initiative and was hopeful that the distribution would encourage the residents to wear facemasks.
He said the police in the area recently embarked on a similar sensitisationprogramme at the market centreson monitoring duties to ensure that people adhered to the protocols.
“I will advise everybody that the virus is real and people are dying every day as a result of contracting the disease. I will plead that we should all stick to the safety protocols and together, we can eliminate the virus,” he said.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi