Traders at the Racecourse market are calling for the completion of phase two of the Kumasi Central Market project.
They have expressed their disappointment over the government’s failure to meet the project deadlines.
The Combined Kumasi Central Market Traders Union, comprising traders from various groups, has expressed concerns over the challenges impeding trading activities at the Racecourse market.
The leaders of the various trader groups have stated that they will seek the intervention of Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to spearhead a fundraising campaign to help complete the stalled project.
The traders, clad in red bands, threatened to vote out the ruling New Patriotic Party for what they said was the government’s continuous neglect of the development of the Ashanti Region.
Emelia Kwofie Asare, Secretary of the Combined Kumasi Central Market Traders Union, told journalists, “We came the first time about a year ago with an appeal. This time, we are not appealing; we are demanding that it is done for us. It is our right, and we demand it. What we have come to know is that the NPP government is taking us for a joke. I think the NPP government keeps lying to us, and we are not taking this anymore. That is our message to the sitting government… This is the stronghold of the NPP. We were looking at them; we were counting on them to work for us. That is why we voted them into power. Unfortunately, the Ashanti region is disappointed; Kumasi is disappointed, the central market is disappointed, traders of the Kumasi Combined Central Market Union are disappointed.”
“So we are going to act now and do what we think will please us… Now we are appealing to Otumfuo to rise and resurrect the central market. The NPP government has killed the central government. We are asking the Asantehene to raise it up again.”
