Ghana’s electoral commission has said it will not allow eligible voters who got to polling centres without facemasks to exercise their franchise.
Serebour Quaicoe, the Director of Electoral Services for the Commission, revealed this on Saturday ahead of Ghana’s general elections holding on Monday.
The elections will be held across 38,000 polling stations in the West African nation.
Quaicoe explained the decision was taken by the electoral management body to control the spread of COVID-19 since many people will gather to cast their votes.
He explained the commission had put in place measures to ensure all COVID-19 safety protocols are strictly abided by to prevent the spread of the virus.
“It is compulsory for all eligible voters who go to the polling centers Monday to have their facemask on, those without them will be asked to go and put it on before they are allowed to vote,” Quaicoe told local media.
The EC official urged all stakeholders to play their various roles well to ensure incident-free polls.
Senior lecturer with the School of Law at University of Ghana, Abdul Basit Aziz Bamba, observed the country has legislation in place making the wearing of a face-mask in public places compulsory.
“There is a law on the wearing of face-masks in the country hence makes it unlawful to go out to the public space without it. COVID-19 is a major health issue and we must all adhere to the safety protocols,” he said.
Ghana will hold the general election with COVID-19 being a major public health issue here. The country’s total cases as of Saturday stood at 52,096 with 50,924 recoveries.