Kejetia traders protest against Kejetia reconstruction
Members of the Kumasi Kejetia Traders Association and petty traders yesterday embarked on a demonstration to mount pressure on the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) not to include Kejetia in the reconstruction of the Kumasi Central Market.
Clad in red and black attires, amid drumming and singing, they carried placards some of which read: “Welcome Brazil burger”, “Kejetia for 10,000 shops?..Aaaaaba”, “We are not against development. We need equity.”
The traders produced a document to show that Kejetia was not originally part of the $298-million reconstruction project and that its inclusion by the KMA was an afterthought.
They presented a two-page petition to the acting Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, copied to the Ashanti Regional Police Command, the Ashanti Regional Security Co-ordinator and the Metropolitan Chief Executive Officer of the KMA,which said the two months ultimatum given by the assembly for them to evacuate their shops and stalls was unreasonable and amounted to oppression and injustice.
The petition also urged the KMA to stick to the original plan to redevelop the Kumasi Central Market without the Kejetia Bus Terminal.
They were of the opinion that the redevelopment of the Kejetia Bus Terminal as part of the central market project was a clandestine way to undermine and destabilise their businesses.
The demonstration coincided with the arrival of the Metropolitan Chief Executive Officer of the assembly, Mr Kojo Bonsu, and some selected MPs mainly from the New Patriotic Party (NPP), as well as two journalists, who travelled to Brazil to understand the ramifications of the project.
Questions
The traders questioned why none of the executive of the traders was part of the trip which was to help key stakeholders to understand the project and to study a prototype of the market built by a Brazilian construction firm, Contracta.
The traders association said it was not consulted and fully engaged in the discussion and the relocation exercise and threatened to resist any move to dislodge its members.
