Hundreds of sheds at the busy Kwadaso onion market in the Ashanti Region were demolished on Monday, April 22, as traders rushed to salvage their belongings.
The Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) in a recent directive ordered onion traders to leave the market citing the security risk their operations are posing in the area.
The Council said parking of heavy-duty trucks on portions of the road near the market is causing vehicular traffic, especially at peak hours.
The Council also attributed a recent accident resulting in the death of a 45-year-old woman to the activities of the traders.
Although the traders were given April 21, 2024, to move to the new area at Atwima Takyiman, the majority of them were reluctant to relocate.
Armed police and military officers have been deployed to the market to oversee the forced relocation of the traders and the demolition of the market.
Affected traders have been expressing their frustrations to Citi News, arguing that they were not officially notified and given sufficient time to prepare for the move.
They claimed they were under the impression that they would be able to purchase the land, and were in the process of raising funds for the purchase.
One said, “We were at the workplace and we saw the military and police are all over with a bulldozer that they are going to, that the regional minister and MCE are relocating us which we were not aware of that. We just heard it on the radio and you cannot relocate somebody based on what he heard on the radio, you have to give the person an official notice and give you time, maybe three months or four months that we are relocating you before you can relocate us.”
“You cannot just come this morning and say you are relocating us, that you got a place at Atwima-Takyiman and that we should go there, which is not fair. And here, we were told that they were selling the place to us, that’s what our elders told us and we were gathering money to pay for it.”
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