Persons who fail to wear face mask could be jailed for 10 years – Govt

Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah says persons who fail to wear face masks in public could face a jail term of between four and 10 years or pay a fine of between GHS12,000 and GHS60,000 or both.

He said this is according to the Executive Instrument, E.I. 164 which was signed by President Akufo-Addo on June 15, 2020.

The President in his 11th COVID-19 address announced that the mandatory wearing of mask will be in force for a period of three months and is part of measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah, therefore, urged local authorities to do their best to ensure compliance of the wearing of face masks.

“The Executive Instrument that makes the wearing of face masks mandatory is out and while we salute the efforts of those who have already started higher levels of compliance, we want to encourage those who have not that the EI is out and they are expected as regional ministers, MMDCEs to step up enforcement within their own jurisdiction,” he said at the Information Ministry’s press briefing on Thursday.

Section 6 of Act 1012 states that “a person who fails to comply with the restrictions imposed under the Executive Instrument issued under subsection 1 of Section 2 commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than 1,000 penalty unit (Gh¢12,000) and not more than 5,000 penalty units (Gh¢ 60,000) or to a term of imprisonment not less than four years and not more than 10 years or to both.”

Section 4 (1) of the E.I. 164 states that the police have the authority to make random checks to “ensure enforcement compliance”

Ghana’s COVID-19 case count has risen to 12,929 with recoveries pegged at 4,468.

This indicates the detection of 339 new cases and brings the positive rate for the infection in Ghana to 4.95%.

This was made known Dr Badu Sarkodie of the Ghana Health Service at the Ministry of Information press briefing on June 18, 2020.

Total death toll still remains 66 from the last update.

261, 319 tests have been conducted so far with a positivity rate of 4.95.