‘Moni obaany3, ba’ can be literally translated in Ga tomean ‘if you like, come and see’. Perhaps, that was the daring statement the Tema Regional Police Command put out to recalcitrant frolic beachgoers during the Easter festivity.
Ghanaians, by nature, sometimes need some brute force to make them adhere to simple rules and regulations.
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck the nation, the government, going by the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) spelt out the health and safety protocols that citizens should adhere to.
From the onset of Covid-19 outbreak in the nation, Ghanaians did their best to stay within the protocols until after the 2020 political campaigns and elections, when the major political parties disregarded the protocols and held mammoth rallies.
After the elections and in the aftermath of the spread of the second variant of Covid-19, the government decided to intensify its education on the adherence of the safety protocols.
That notwithstanding, restrictions onchurches, mosques and some public gatherings were lifted by government.However, those of night clubs and beaches were maintained.
Ghanaians who like to enjoy their public holidays bypatronising the beaches were, therefore, left disappointed. Most of the beach resorts that this reporter visited in Tema were deserted with virtually no activity.
The call could have been necessitated by the striking death toll at the Apam beach on Independence Day, when nine children drowned in the sea.
So, as indicated earlier, before the Easter festivity, the government had banned some social gatherings, like going to the beach for fun, and insisted on making sure that people obeyed the protocols.
On Good Friday morning, when Jesus Christ was carrying the cross to Calvary to be nailed to it to save those who believed in Him, some Ghanaian holiday revelers thronged the Five Beach at Tema Newtown to have fun and merry, which was against the government’s restrictions.
The Ghana Police Service, before the D-Day, had also cautioned people to stay away from the beaches during the Easter holidays.
With the police acting on reliable information from the citizenry and a section of media in Tema on how some persons had thronged the Five Beach on Good Friday, DCOP Sasraku II, the Tema Regional Police Commander, despatched his personnel to the venue, but on seeing the police they took to their heels.
The police personnel demonstrated professionalism by not chasing the lawbreakers into the sea,maybe taking a cue from Jesus’ last statement on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.”
But, at the Titanic Beach, the canes and belts really worked on the salty skins of beachgoers that Friday afternoon, when some security personnel arrived at the venue. Those who could escape the beatings were indeed fortunate.
Driving back home along the Tema Beach road, a police FPU vehicle with armed police personnel had taken position along the Sakumono Beach. The sea and its species needed to also enjoy the Easter festivity in peace. Thanks to Covid-19.
The Chronicle can state that since the late afternoon of Good Friday to Monday, when the beaches could have been flooded by people from all walks of life, there was a peaceful atmosphere as the area looked deserted.
The police took over all beach areas and were bent on making Tema a no go area for undisciplined holiday frolics in this Covid-19 era.
The Tema Regional Police Commander,DCOP BarimaTweneboahSasraku II and his personnel are in charge of the beaches, daring anybody with ‘Moni obaany3, ba’.
The post Revellers stay away from Tema beaches appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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