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Absence of ‘Fellow Ghanaians’ affecting sale of nose masks
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Some nose masks sellers in the Tema West Municipality of the Greater Accra Region have complained of low sales because it has been a while the President addressed the nation on the Coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking in separate interviews with The Spectator, they claimed that the public did not seem interested in wearing the nose masks any longer.
It is, therefore, common to walk through the community and see many people walking, doing business or in vehicles without their nose masks.
One of the sellers, Madam Mercy Abena Boatemaa disclosed that sales soared anytime the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo addressed the nation on the COVID-19 situation.
The-45-year old who spends at least ten hours a day selling nose masks by the dusty road of the Adjei Kojo Market said she was introduced to the business by a friend who gave her an amount of Ghc100 as seed capital to improve her life and that of her children.
She said she had been advocating constantly that people wore their masks always especially when they were in public not because she wanted to make profit but because she felt it was important to protect oneself and his or her entire community.
She said sometimes, she felt compelled to give free nose masks to some people who passed by without wearing them as she saw such persons as a danger to everyone because one could not tell when his or her path would cross with infected people.
The native of Kumasi Tsrede said she purchased her products from the Central Business District of Accra.
Ms Boatemaa said she was unhappy that some traders sold inferior nose masks to unsuspecting members of the public describing it as an exercise that seriously compromised public health and also increased people’s chances of getting infected.
She said she had vowed to rather sell quality masks which suppressed the transmission of the virus because she felt obliged to do the society more good than harm.
She called on the public to take the safety precautions of COVID-19 but not hide behind the excuse that it was an inconvenience to wear the nose maks because these were not normal times.
Another nose mask seller, Mrs. Adjeley Lartey said some members of the public were of the view that the virus was no longer harmful so there was no point in continuing to wear the masks.
She said someone even told her that because many people had vaccinated, they were protecting those who had not taken the jab.
She said such unhealthy attituded was killing their business because she could go a whole day without even selling two boxes of the nose masks.
Ms. Lartey called on the President to continue updating the nation to let the public know that the virus was not gone as some Ghanaians thought.
From Dzifa Tetteh Tay, Adjei Kojo.
Deputy Director of Operations at the Presidency, Mustapha Gbande, has alleged that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) appears more concerned and emotionally invested in the imprisonment of its Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi Boasiako, popularly known as Chairman Wontumi, than the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC).
Speaking on Joy Prime on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Accra, Mr. Gbande argued that the NPP played a major role in the legal process that led to Wontumi’s conviction.
According to him, the law under which Wontumi was convicted originally carried a maximum prison sentence of three years but was later amended by the NPP administration to increase the maximum punishment to 15 years.
“The law that jailed Wontumi was three years. The NPP enhanced it to 15 years,” he stated.
Mr. Gbande further claimed that the evidence used to prosecute Wontumi was gathered during the previous NPP administration.
He maintained that the case against the NPP chairman did not begin under the current government but was built by officials who served in the former administration.
“The docket that jailed Wontumi was built by the NPP. The evidence that convicted him was built by the NPP,” he asserted.
To support his argument, Mr. Gbande referred to actions taken by the former Minister for Lands and Natural Resources in July 2022, when the minister declared activities linked to Wontumi in the Tano Nimiri Forest Reserve illegal.
He stressed that once an activity has been declared illegal, it remains a breach of the law regardless of who is involved.
By: Jacob Aggrey
The Bank of Ghana (BoG) has warned that traders, transport operators, businesses and individuals who refuse to accept Ghana cedi coins as payment for goods and services could face arrest, prosecution, fines or imprisonment.
In a public notice issued on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, the central bank expressed concern over the widespread refusal to accept 1 pesewa, 5 pesewa, 10 pesewa, 20 pesewa and 50 pesewa coins, as well as the GH¢1 and GH¢2 coins.
It explained that all coins issued by the Bank of Ghana remain legal tender and must be accepted for transactions across the country.
According to the BoG, none of the coins has been withdrawn from circulation or demonetised, and no trader, transport operator, business or individual has the right to reject them because they consider them inconvenient or of low value.
The bank cited the Bank of Ghana Act, 2002 (Act 612), as amended, and the Currency Act, 1964 (Act 242), as the laws governing the use of the country’s currency.
It noted that under the Currency Act, refusing to sell goods or provide services simply because a customer is paying with legal tender coins or banknotes is a criminal offence, unless the currency has been withdrawn from circulation.
The BoG stated that anyone convicted of the offence could face up to three years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
It added that people who encourage or instruct others to reject coins, including business owners who direct their employees to do so, are equally liable under the law.
The bank further indicated that a person caught committing the offence may be arrested without a warrant.
To ensure compliance, the BoG said it would work with the Ghana Police Service and other law enforcement agencies to enforce the law against offenders.
It encouraged members of the public to report cases of coin rejection to the nearest Bank of Ghana office, the Ghana Police Service or through the bank’s official communication channels.
The central bank called on individuals, businesses and institutions to accept and handle Ghana’s currency responsibly in all its denominations, saying this would help uphold confidence in the country’s legal tender.
By: Jacob Aggrey
