Kumasi Central Market shop owners stage protest
More than 500 traders at the Kumasi Central Market in Kumasi yesterday staged a demonstration against the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) over their relocation to pave the way for the reconstruction of the market.
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The traders, mostly women, wore red attire, beat drums, danced and marched through some of the streets at the precincts of the market.
The demonstration, code-named: “Yenpene”, was to resist the reconstruction of the market until they received assurance from the KMA that the new shops to be built would not be sold out to others after the market had been reconstructed.
The KMA has tried on several occasions to allay the fears of the shop owners, including registering them, so that they would be the first to be considered after the reconstruction of the market, but to no avail.
“Yentie obiaa”
In spite of the assurances, the shop owners would not budge because they see the rebuilding of the market as a ploy to dispossess them of their shops.
The KMA has planned to temporarily relocate them to the Adehyieman Gardens, the Royal Market and the Race Course to allow work on the new market to start.
Other plans have been put in place to compensate all those who will be affected by the project.
Last November, Parliament approved a $298 million Brazilian loan for the three-phase project.
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