Assembly to relocate hawkers to Madina, Bohye markets

The La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly (LaNMMA) has said it will soon relocate all traders peddling their wares on the streets and pedestrian walkways in Madina to the two markets in the area to allow free movement of commuters.

The assembly said it would also carry out a similar exercise to remove hawkers engaging in their activities on the footbridge at the Zongo Junction.

“We need to clear them because they have spaces and shops inside the Madina and the Bohye markets, but they are using the shops as their warehouses and storehouses, and they trade by the roadside,” it said.

Currently, there are two markets in the municipality — the Madina Market, which is the second largest market in Accra, and the Bohye Market, which is said to have adequate spaces for traders to sell their goods.

The Coordinating Director of the assembly, Abena Kwesiwaa Kyei, who made this known to the Women Caucus of Parliament last Tuesday, said the exercise was aimed at restoring sanity, environmental cleanliness to ensure the safety of both traders and pedestrians.

Currently, most of the traders have left their shops in the two markets to sell their wares in the streets, and this is very dangerous.

“The major problem is that those who sell by the roadside just dump their goods anywhere and anyhow.

We tried to put a mesh in the median to beautify the streets, but those traders destroyed it just because some of them wanted the opportunity to sell in the median,” she said.

The caucus, led by its leader, Comfort Doyoe Cudjoe-Ghansah, visited the La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly to learn firsthand the intent of the assembly to remove traders from the streets.

They later went to the two markets in the area to encourage the traders to cooperate with the assembly to ensure their own safety.

Consultation  

The LaNMMA Coordinating Director said most of the buildings by the roads in Madina served as residences.

In view of that, she said the assembly had received a series of letters from the landlords “for us to ensure that the women go to the market to sell”.

She explained that the traders had spaces inside the Madina and the Bohye markets, but they had chosen to sell by the roadside.

“So currently, what we are doing is, we want to ensure those who sell by the roadside move to the Bohye Market to trade, and it is in their interest to do so,” she said.

To create awareness about the exercise, Ms Kyei said officials from the assembly went to the two markets to explain to the women the need for them to relocate.

“So, our intention is to ensure these women go and trade inside the market, and some are excited we are clearing the roadside because it will let those who sell by the roadside get in and trade,” she said.

Ms Kyei said the assembly had plans to set up creches and daycares in the markets to allow traders and workers to take their children to the facilities where they would be taken care of.

Mrs Cudjoe-Ghansah suggested to the assembly that if it was not in a position to sustain the exercise, it should emulate the worthy “red line policy” of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to prevent the scenario of women being chased with their children at their backs.

“Give them a line so that they can follow that line because whatever you do, we are Africans, and you cannot totally avoid roadside selling.

“The red line policy has brought peace to the AMA and the women; so, do what will allow them to understand that they have been allowed, but they do not have to cross the line,” she said.