The Kumasi Traditional Council (KTC) is asking traders who sell on streets and pavements at the Central Business District (CBD) to comply with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) relocation order.
The relocation is among others to allow the contractor working on the Kejetia Redevelopment Project to expedite work on the road network connecting the Kejetia/Central Market to other areas within the Central Business District.
The relocation exercise is to also to decongest at the CBD and ensure the free flow of human and vehicular traffic.
[contextly_sidebar id=”3LSDXSbQI9KFJme2S0bbNWeWWaNqqtOA”]The exercise has since been intensified with the additional personnel by the Ashanti Regional Security Council (REGSEC) which deployed personnel comprising officers from the Police Service, Prisons Service, Fire Service Immigration Service and the Ghana Armed Forces.
According to the KMA, it has had series of dialogue with the leadership of the traders and the driver unions before embarking on the exercise since it was not interested in collapsing any business within the metropolis.
The KMA has also indicated that it has ensured designated trading places like the race course, Nana Afia Kobi Market (Abinkyi), and Adumanum were made ready for the safe relocation of traders.
Aggrieved traders
A group calling itself the Concerned NPP Youth Traders Association is calling for the Kumasi Mayor’s immediate removal following what they say is his approach towards the ongoing relocation exercise in the metropolis.
The group also accused the Mayor of failing to put proper measures in place before relocating traders from the Central Business District to the various market centres.
According to the group, the actions of the Mayor in the ongoing relocation and decongestion exercise is creating a bad name for the NPP in the Ashanti region which could take the party back into opposition.
The decongestion exercise has the blessing of the Kumasi Traditional Council (KTC).
For the Bantamahene, Baffour Owusu Amankwatia VI, the traders must cooperate with the KMA in the ongoing exercise.
He expressed worry over the continuous usage of pavements and streets in the metropolis for trading activities.
He said the council is also worried over the growing lawlessness in the Kumasi metropolis and will work with city authorities to ensure there is sanity.
“Kumasi belongs to Otumfuo; it doesn’t belong to anybody. So if Nananom comes and says something, it means that is Otumfuo who is speaking. So should we sit down and allow people tell us what they want to do? No. So we can’t allow that sort of lawlessness to prevail. So we are appealing to all the traders to cooperate with the Mayor so that we can make Kumasi a better place for all of us”, he cautioned.
Baffour Amankwatia VI emphasized that the exercise has the full backing of the KTC which will ensure the exercise succeeds.
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By: Hafiz Tijani/citinewsroom.com/Ghana