Police, military protect traders registration exercise
The Kumasi Metropolitan Security Council has begun deploying police and military personnel to the Kejetia Lorry Terminal to protect both traders and equipment being used by the assembly to biometrically register traders in connection with their planned relocation in order to pave the way for the reconstruction of the Kumasi Central Market estimated to cost about $298 million.
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The deployment of the security personnel has become necessary following threats by a section of the traders to manhandle their colleagues who attempt to register and also destroy the biometric registration equipment.
The Coordinating Director of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Mr Michael B. Ataogye, said the registration process was intended to capture the biological data of the traders as a means of securing them a place to ply their trade on completion of the first phase of the market reconstruction project at the Kejetia Lorry Terminal.
‘The misleading claim that security personnel have been deployed to Kejetia to intimidate or force the traders to register should be dismissed with the contempt it deserves,’ he said.
The Kumasi Metropolitan Security Council has warned that it would not tolerate any further obstruction of public officers in the line of their duties.
Both the Kumasi Central Market and Kejetia Lorry Terminal projects are being undertaken by the Brazilian construction firm, Contracta.
A tour undertaken by officials of the KMA and media personnel to the site earmarked to accommodate the relocated traders indicated that the shelter was about 98 per cent complete.
Four hundred stalls designated for the traders at one of the sites, the Royal Market, is ready while another 400 stalls out of 600 at the Adehyieman Gardens, is also ready.
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The Kumasi Central Market and Kejetia projects estimated to be completed in two-and-a-half years is projected to have in them more than 40,000 stalls, shops and other supporting facilities for the traders.
Parliament, in the latter part of last year, approved a $298 million Brazilian loan facility to reconstruct the markets.