Traders at Wa’s new market appeal for improved facilities

Traders who have voluntarily moved to the Wa new market are regretting heeding the appeal of the local authorities to relocate there as part of the efforts to decongest the Wa Central Market.

Years after relocating to the new market, conditions there still leave much to be desired, making life somewhat uncomfortable for traders.

The traders are ruing the lack of sanitary facilities at the new market, which is forcing them to resort to open defecation.

They said both men and women use the same bush to attend to nature’s call, thus denying them privacy and dignity.

The one-storey store house with the leaking roof

As if that is not enough, they also have to deal with stray goats and sheep that daily troop to the market to eat their foodstuffs, which makes them incur debt.

The traders deal mainly in grains such as maize, beans and yams, from where most of the traders in the Wa Central Market go to buy in bulk to retail.

The traders shared these concerns with the Daily Graphic during a visit to the new market.

Most of the market women who were interviewed complained bitterly about the lack of toilet facilities, stalls and litter all around the market.

A trader who deals in maize, who only gave her name as Fati, said the absence of a toilet facility was very disturbing, and the only place available for them to attend to nature's call was the nearby bush.

“We do not have any privacy, and our nakedness is exposed to whoever is using the place at the same time,” she said.

She said because the place was still under construction, the traders shared the space with stray animals that wandered there in search of fodder.

“We cannot leave our items unattended. We have to constantly be on the lookout for the animals to sack them from our wares,” she complained.

Debts

Madam Fati said some of them had run into debts as a result of the animals eating their food items and damaging their wares.

A food vending stall at the market

That, she said, had affected their investment and their ability to cater for their households.

Another trader, who also gave her name as Sharifa, corroborated Madam Fati’s concern and added that the sanitation situation at the new market was very poor.

Due to the nature of the market, there were empty water sachets and polythene bags littered all around the place.

Madam Sharifa said even though they paid their daily tolls at the market, they were not getting value for the taxes they paid.

She was of the view that by now, the assembly should have stationed refuse containers at the market and contracted cleaners to tidy up the place and make it conducive for trading.

Access road

For Atikata Amidu, a resident of Wa-Mangu, her main concern is the access road from Mangu to the market.

Some of the stray animals at the market

She said the bridge on the road from Mangu to the market, which is a short road, was being washed away by the rains and, as such, is dangerous to use now.

As a result, she said traders and customers from Mangu would have to pass through town, making the journey longer and more expensive.

She thus pleaded with the city authorities to work on the bridge and make it safer for them to cut down on cost and reduce the drudgery of commuting to and from the market daily.

A male trader at the market, Baba Seidu, said the building that served as a storeroom for their items had a leaking roof, which was damaging their items.

He said the traders had complained about it, but nothing seemed to be done about it.

He added that in the past, with the assistance of the former Assembly member of the area, a task force was dispatched to the market to impound the animals and fine their owners for not caging them.

He said since the said assembly member was no longer in office, the deal seemed to have fallen through, and they were back to square one.

He, therefore, reiterated the call on the city authority to attend to their problems and make life a little bearable for them at the market.